<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Field of View by kawaii1324</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24964855">Field of View</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawaii1324/pseuds/kawaii1324'>kawaii1324</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Brain Damage, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Hospitalization, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Medical Procedures, Suffering, Surgery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2014-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:49:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>36,787</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24964855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawaii1324/pseuds/kawaii1324</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Seirin had a practice match, but Kuroko hadn't quite dodged the flying elbow. Hanamiya had made impact and Kuroko wasn't as useful anymore. Takao was the first responder, the most held together and the one that everyone seemed to count on to care for the injured Shadow.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kuroko Tetsuya/Takao Kazunari</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Rainbow of Visitors</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~Chapter One: The Rainbow of Visitors~</p><p>"Yo, Tecchan! Time to wake up!" That voice, unfazed energetic reminded you of the blonde model, Kise. He didn't care what others thought and wasn't hurt by your blunt words. Still, it wasn't Kise. The man who sat on the edge of your bed, probably with a tray of food was not a friend from Teiko. None of the generation of miracles were allowed to visit by your 'caretaker.' That's when everyone called him now.</p><p>Takao was the one who responded first at the practice match. He had been watching the practice match with Midorima. He had vaulted the barrier between the seats in the court. From what people said he'd noticed as soon as the elbow made impact but something was wrong. His hawk-eye was the natural enemy of your misdirection, and it gave him a quicker reaction time. Even your own team was stunned when he had run over and ordered your coach to take a timeout. He'd run out onto the court. Where you nearly collapsed. You felt yourself lifted off the court and then you fainted.</p><p>Shuutoku's point guard coaxed to you into sitting up and put a spoon in your hand "I made you essential vanilla cereal this morning Tecchan. After you eat we've got to get ready to go out." Since that game you've been staying at his house. Your parents had gone abroad and weren't contactable. Takao's parents seem to travel a lot as well and his younger sister only came around occasionally to tease that you were turning her older brother into a housewife. She sounded similar to Takao, she never gave her first name, but Takao said you could call her 'imouto' if you wanted to. You didn't do it though, you wouldn't feel right. Calling a stranger so formally.</p><p>As you began to eat Takao began to talk, it didn't bother him that you spoke only occasionally. And you didn't mind listening to him. He filled you in on what others said. Ever since he threw the 'rainbow squad' from your bedside, he only relayed messages. It was a comical scene. You could still just imagine their faces.</p><p>Kise had been the first to show up. He started talking so quickly and crying that Takao had kissed him to shut him up until Kasamatsu showed up. He'd kicked him, then dragged him away. Though he was shocked from the kiss, Takao had joked "Kissing someone who cried like him is like kissing a puppy who got stuck in the ocean."</p><p>Midorima was the second, he didn't linger. He seemed strained and his tsundereness was pouring out. He cut across to the bedside and set down a plush dog, like Nigou. he spoke in a strained voice "Well Kuroko, this is your lucky item. You'll need all your power to recover." He seemed to start to cry. You could imagine him adjusting his glasses as Takao said "Mah, Mah, don't cry Shin-chan. He's in good hands, the best hands." He left after you heard Takao say "Don't make me treat you like Kise, Shin-Chan." Then he left in silence.</p><p>Next it had been surprising to hear his voice tremble, but it had you could hear it, it wasn't easy to imagine tears on his face. But Aomine was crying, you felt warm tears dripping onto your forearm. Finally he spoke "Damn Tetsu, You were supposed to play me again. Why the fuck did this happen? You were supposed to be okay and play me so I could fight you again…We were supposed to face off..." You didn't know what to say, so you were thankful when Takao spoke "Dai-chan... There's a chance he'll recover, but having you upset won't help anything." There was a flurry of movement, and you no longer felt tears dripping onto your arm. You assumed by the gasp of Takao-Chan had given, and knowing<br/>
Aomine and his personality that Takao was lifted by his shirt collar. Aomine yelled "How the fuck are you so calm?! How can you be smiling despite all of this?! What do you know anyway?! You are just a damn point guard who can barely do anything off the court!"There was a loud crack of hand to skin, and then an even lower one followed, following it there was a thud of impact. Which made the floor tremble a bit. It was obvious Takao both gave and received a hit. You'd never heard Takeo angry but when he spoke he had a glare that made Aomine silent, though his lip was split, and he had a lisp, he had never seemed more menacing. You could feel the chill in the air, the power in his voice as he spoke was quite surprising "No, Aomine. You don't seem to understand. Although, would an ace who is clueless to anything that doesn't have a basketball involved understand?? The trauma to the frontal cranial lobe, damaged his eyes. There is a chance that Tecchan can recover. It just takes time. He needs support, he isn't dead. So stop mourning you damn idiot." He cleared his throat and you can imagine him straining himself to keep from tears, you had heard his sister "Kazu-nii" but Takao silenced her. Somehow, he continued a steady voice "Dai-chan I assure you, your old shadow will be fine. I won't neglect him so rely on me. Don't give me your bull shit. And you better not be thinking you're the only one that can do this." The doorbell had rang and a little while later you heard an apology and a trembling voice and Aomine had been shepherded out by Touou's shooting guard.</p><p>Momoi sat by your side and she held your hand. It managed to pet her hair and she said in a soft voice "Tetsu-kun, there is proof that there are treatments would've worked. So you can't give up. You absolutely can't. I didn't fall in love with the quitter. I'll help you. However, I can!" She was in tears but she knew what happened earlier, so she was trying her hardest be strong for you. You reassured her "I don't plan on giving up Momoi-Chan. After all I still have to beat Akashi-kun. I can't let my senpai down." As she was leaving she said something interesting and very weird to Takao "I'll support you Takao-kun"</p><p>Murasakibara's visit was less wet and much more whiny. You can imagine his pout as he whined "No fair Kurochin! I wanted to play with you again." He popped a vanilla candy in your mouth when you had tried to comfort him. Takao had taken over, you heard a very loud thud and a whine. Takao had fallen over when he'd been glomped by Murasakibara "At-chan, you're getting crumbs all over me…Ack!" His sister commentated while Murasakibara ate the crumbs off the hawk and kept commenting how sweet he was. Somehow for some reason it annoyed you. You could hear Takao trying to escape, but he was out powered. He spoke in an exasperated voice "At-chan you-" and his words became muffled by the purple haired teen lips. At that moment a murderous or a had filled the room. You imagine Himuro standing in the doorway before he spoke "Atsushi, I knew you would cause trouble, but this is something else entirely."There was a rustling wrappers as Murasakibara sat up "Eeeeh Murochin, Takaochin is just really sweet, you should try!" Takao sat up rubbing his head when he got up he was saying "Sorry Tatchan, I…" His voice was cut off again and there was a click of the camera and Takao a moment later was saying "Oi Tatchan" his voice was mixed with Murasakibara saying "No fair Muro-chin" his sisters giggling and Himuro saying." Just taking back a sweet treat." Shortly after they left in a commotion of sound.</p><p>Well after Takao had gotten them out of the house Akashi have entered, ignoring the protests over the lateness of the hour. You missed the 'Real Akashi' because this one was inconsiderate and absolute. Akashi had walked over to you, he didn't seem teary-eyed at all. He spoke without a quiver in his voice and he seemed more authoritative than anything "Tetsuya, you will recover. I will hear nothing else, if Kazunari fails to help you. I will take over your treatment and care. It would be annoying to lose such an interesting opponent. So because my rule is absolute you will recover. Do you understand me?" Before you say anything Takao had entered the picture, you just judging by Takao's annoyance he pulled the little emperor from your bed. He spoke with the same annoyance he had with Aomine and once again without a tremor in his voice "Sei-chan, listen to me and listen well you annoying little emperor. I don't care who you think you are. And I don't care what you think you can do. Tecchan is in my care, and I will do everything to help him. So you will not remove him from this house, you will not make such false accusations. Hence you will not be coming back here because your absolute authority is not something that Tecchan needs right now. Yes he needs assurance that he will recover, but not the demands to recover. That being said and done, it is late, I don't care how far you've traveled it is time for you to go home." Akashi had started to protest and it seemed that he'd used his emperor eyes and ankle-break to bring Takao to fall. But it was weird, because Takao didn't fall he sunk to one knee, in a knights kneel and got back up. Needless to say that shocked Akashi "How did you do that, no one can stand against me. No one can look down on me. So do not try me Kazunari." Takao had responded with an icy tone "Well Seijuro, I am standing against you and I am looking down upon you right now. You will be leaving this house. That is not an option. Chi-Chan is here for you, so it is time for you to leave" you assume that he meant Mayuzumi Chihiro from Rakuzan, you'd met him once, and just like you and Takao, he was labeled the shadow. You heard from Takao that Mayuzumi was the only one who stood against Akashi, who didn't care or treasure the little emperor as much is Akashi desired. There was a bit of a scuffle outside the room but you heard a calm voice say "No worries Kazunari." And that was it.</p><p>After that flashback, you realized you'd finished your cereal. Takao-kun really was an excellent cook. Takao had caught you up on what you needed to know from what your doctors had said, the weather seemed to be keeping several of the specialists from getting out to you, you assume that it was snowing considering it was winter. Then something unexpected happened; Takao started speaking, but his voice seemed sad "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for all this trouble Tecchan. I wish I had responded quicker if I had said something...If I had called out... Maybe, maybe. You wouldn’t have gotten hurt. I hate to see you in pain." He was silent for a little while and you thought maybe you should say something, but just as you decided that you should he spoke again "I mean, once Shuutoku beat Seirin, I was planning to…" He was silent but you could tell that he was building up to something so you were patient "I was planning to tell you something, something that might've made you hate me… But somehow I just really wanted to tell you… Ne Tecchan? Would you like me to tell you now? You can say no if you want to, I mean we do have to get ready for that appointment anyway. Actually.... I don't want to do anything that'd upset you before we leave." He sighed and before waiting for your answer. He'd said "Anyway I've drawn a bath for you, let's get you washed up, huh?" You could imagine his hurt smile, Takao always smiled but sometimes you noticed that there was a serious pain in his eyes.. You couldn't figure out why, but then you heard from Midorima that Scorpios hid all their emotions behind some sort of mask. For the first time you found yourself wondering if there wasn't some truth to horoscopes. Takao really was like you in a different sort of way, you seemed to understand him better than you thought. You sighed, because it didn't seem like right now you'd be finding out what he wanted to say.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two: The Appointment & The Team Pt. 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>You felt the fluffy towel against your hair, Takao had returned; You weren't helpless, though your existence relied on observation, there were ways to avoid needing to see everything, and in a shower you didn't need to see much if you could feel. Granted adapting to the lack of vision was far from easy, the hawk was ensuring that you wouldn't be crippled and helpless if anything went wrong with the surgery. His sing-song voice chased out the negative thoughts the warm water had bathed you in "The expert has rerouted his flight, they'll be landing in Kanagawa. The snow fall there is much more mild, so we'll be leaving soon... We won't be coming home tonight." Chuckling to himself while he gently fluffed your hair he commented "Wow saying it that way makes it seem like we're newly weds or something~"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>You tilted your head slightly like newlyweds? That's not a comparison he normally made, yet it didn't aggravate you as much as it probably should have, was it because of his personality or was there something else? The chirpy voice of his sister teased from the hallway "Aw~ Nii-san! You can't propose in a bathroom! That's not romantic at all!" Takao's hands flinched in the towel and yet he laughed somewhat forced "Who do you think is proposing to someone you brat!" He sighed and you could hear the fabric of his shirt swish as he shook his head. He was a bit more distraught than you imagined though. Once he deemed your hair dry he got up and helped you out of the bathroom. There was nothing to trip on, still it felt as if you had to be careful; maybe because Takao's house was a foreign place, you never visited, so you had no idea what was where. Perhaps to make it easier, from time to time especially on outings they would have you sit in a wheelchair, yet the point guard didn't want to weaken your leg muscles to that extent, so he'd often have you work out beside him.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>You heard the tell-tale wheels of the vehicle in disguise and sighed a bit to which a small chuckle replied "Tecchan~ You know why we have you in a wheelchair right? I'm the only one who doesn't lose you in a crowd, and when we're going to crowded areas... It's safer for you like this especially because doctors and nurses are easily distracted. You really are a phantom sixth man~ No one notices you when you want to disappear, except those accustomed to you, sometimes not even then..." Thinking back you remembered him saying something similar when he thought you were asleep to Akashi over the phone 'Yes Sei-chan~ I'm well aware that Tecchan can disappear, he won't vanish though... I know he's someone you have to check on or you feel like he vanished from thin air... This whole situation is like trying to capture smoke... However it's my role to ensure that the smoke wisps don't get caught, they just need to find their source again.' It was a curious statement, as he settled you into a wheelchair you muttered "How...am I like smoke?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Being adapted to Takao you felt him freeze as he was wrapping a blanket around you and positioning the foot rests. He gave a whistle of admiration as he continued and chuckled "You really catch everything don't you Tecchan?" Humming he picked his words carefully "How are you like smoke? Well smoke is rarer than a shadow, you're both a shadow in some terms and also like smoke... If someone doesn't pay enough mind you vanish before anyone notices... It's quite disheartening. Since you have quite a fanclub~" You face contorted in disbelief, there was no way there was a fanclub for someone like me... I'm just a shadow. Takao ignored my obvious shock and hummed "Though you wouldn't believe it... I mean you're a shadow that started to rescue five teams from darkness, you returned the rainbow squad to a degree... You wouldn't notice it because you just wanted your friends back..." The words left something heavy in your heart, how can I rescue anyone when I just don't want to be left behind?</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Takao was particularly kind on the journey, he noticed you didn't wish to talk. So when you pretended to sleep on the train he just talked, mostly to himself, talking about matches recently, about your old teammates, about his sister's interest in 'dolling him' up for some reason and such. He just chatted and accepted the silence, some of the stories curled your lips a little. Honestly what sort of brother agrees to be dressed up in total cosplay for his younger sister's amusement? Midorima surely would never agree to something like that... But Takao seemed the type to spoil his sister because his parents were often away and he didn't want her to feel lonely... As sleep claimed the shadow finally on the long train ride, he was confused once more by a pang in his heart, did Takao know a loneliness like Kuroko himself?</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Takao noticed Kuroko's breathing changed and smiled a bit and whispered to himself "I'm glad you finally fell asleep Tecchan... You haven't been sleeping properly... Nightmares are no stranger to our house... But you hide it and refuse to admit to them..." Lightly he wrapped one of Tetsuya's hands in both of his and closed his eyes "I swear... I will return you to the field of light you belong on... So don't give up faith... The probability only drops to 0% when everyone gives up... So even if you give up... I won't make it 0%... I know you'll get through this Kuroko... It'll be too lonely without you on the court... I only started getting along with the others because of you... Or should I say Shin-chan did... Hm... Maybe both of us..." Sighing he relented and released the hand he held and made a call to a blonde who would murder him if they were to appear without warning.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Hey Ki-chan..." He stepped into the hall to avoid waking the shadow and sighed "We're on a train up to your prefecture as it was snowing too much in Tokyo... I know you'd want to know since you idolize Kuroko so much..." Kise answered so loudly the brunette held the phone away from his ear and heard crystal clearly what he said "Yes... Yes... I know... No I don't apologize for kissing you... You were blubbering and making Tecchan uncomfortable..." More loudness and an awkward silence before he laughed "Yeah I do have Kara-san's number... We got rather close you know... I did have to take precautions of you rainbow invading my house..." Sighing he cut Kise off this time "No Ki-chan I won't be giving up on helping him recover, or telling him what I wanted to either... But one burden is enough for a heart right now... After all if I'm right and it's too much... Tecchan will be too overburdened to deal with the surgery so one step at a time..." A laugh and the shake of his head "No it's too soon for a pity party... But if it comes down to it maybe I'll hook up with you.. Just no crying puppy kisses" He teased and the responding Kise was obviously flustered and so the hawk laughed "Mah mah calm down I was kidding. It was a joke... Anyway Ki-chan if you want to meet us at the train we'll be arriving in about an hour... To meet the specialist from America." Silence answered and then a soft 'I'll be there for Kurokocchi...' and a disconnection sound.</span>
  <span></span>
    <br/>
  
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Leaning against the door to the car he closed his eyes "Honestly... This is too much for any human heart... I won't give Tecchan any more uncertainty... He already has so much turmoil..." Takao was convinced there would be a way... They had a month before the deadline would be upon them... Every minute counted and he wouldn't waste one…</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter Three: The Appointment & The Team Pt. 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was a strange feeling you had when you were starting to wake up, warm and  comforting; your hair was tickling your face, as your conscious rejoined you, a warmth accompanied it. Someone was petting your hair to soothe you? It was quite pleasant, you wondered how long it had been since someone did something like this? This hand couldn’t be your mother’s or your father… As your eyes opened you searched, and remembered all you would find, was darkness. After a short moment of panic, reality set in and you questioned “Takao…?” The hypnotic sounds of the train wheels and tracks was interrupted by a slightly cheerful voice, you might be wrong but it sounded forced again.  “Oh Tecchan? Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. “Good morning Tecchan! I didn</span>
  <span>'t mean to wake you. Sorry" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Confusion set in, Takao seemed to be apologizing more and joking less, quite unlike himself. You couldn't help but wonder what had the point guard this wound up. Before you could ask he started talking again, and you were starting to notice why Midorima enjoyed his company; you had no reason to put in extra effort for talking. “I called Kiss while you were napping, he is so easily flustered. He kept telling me he would rush to your side if I gave up on helping you with your recovery. I told him that was never going to happen, and then he wanted an apology for my tactic to shut him up. I refused that too. Do you think it was too cruel Tecchan?” Blinking you shook your head,Not yet anyway, we’ve still got a bit of the trip left. We’ll be arriving soon, the snow and ice has us moving slower than normal.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nodding you understood that, snowstorms were quite dangerous and travelling out of one was pretty tricky. That wasn’t what he wanted to say though, you sighed and tilted your head slightly to the side “What happened?” It might not feel like long that the two of you had been together, but there was just a fundamental understanding between the two of you. Probably a bit better than Midorima and Takao. He probably had a concerned look on his face he didn’t bother to hide as you couldn’t see it, Takao had a guilty nature when he got called out on something and his pride didn’t let him lie about it. He gave a partial laugh “Guess that wasn’t what you wanted to know huh? Kise and Kasamatsu are going to meet us at the station, and it seems some of the others were in town for a reunion of some sort… It might get a bit crazy again. I’ll protect you though! After all it sounded like Ki-chan was already delusional... ” Frowning a bit you wondered what it was that Kise said, after all that was the part of what he said that sounded saddest… Kise really could be a lot to handle, he was closer to the shadow in some ways with their relationship from Teikou, he was very jealous when anyone seemed to threaten ‘taking him away.’ That was always a cause of headache for you, how many times had you had to deal with turning down his selfish requests or console him over his jealousy. There was probably a slight look of annoyance on your face because a chuckle erupted beside you “Mah, mah Tecchan. Don’t be like that~ Ki-chan really admires you, I did mention you have a fan-club. I’d be willing to say the entire rainbow squad is included in that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>You frowned a bit, both over the comment that reminded you of your unease from when you left and the fact Takao’s lisp was back. Did he bite his lip at some point, was he that uneasy? Or did the punch from Aomine do more damage than you expected…? As normal Takao picked up on the tension and realized his mistake he touched his lip and frowned trying to smoothly cover his accident he sheepishly commented “Oops, seems I bit my lip when I was having a snack. You had a good nap and I ended up getting a bite to eat after talking to Ki-chan and Kasamatsu-senpai~ I really need to be more careful or this will never heal, maybe I should consider getting a piercing or something later it might help me not aggravate it so much.” You were dumbfounded for a moment, he owned up to it? Wasn’t he trying to hide he was hurt, or is he using that he’s hurt to hide something else? You raised a hand to your head, gently brushing your temple a sign of confusion and possibly a slight headache; However your fingers also ended up meeting the warmth of Takao’s hand which had been resting on top of your head earning a faint smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As if he were shocked by a live wire his hand recoiled and Takao laughed softly again “Sorry, sorry I shouldn’t talk in circles. Your former light really has too much strength for his own good… Then with Tatchan and Atchan… Jeez I get the feeling a nurse is going to fuss over me when we check you in...” He sighed shaking his head, his hair made a soft swishing sound against his jacket “It’s going to be another long day Tecchan, I hope you had a good nap.” You could hear the hope in his voice, and wondered if he knew you were being plagued by nightmares, not that you planned to ask. As if sensing the awkward silence falling in the train cart an announcement came on notifying the passengers that they would be arriving in Kanagawa Prefecture shortly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Saving the headache for later Takao hummed getting up, he was chittering like a bird as he moved around the cart, getting everything together. Fixing both yours and his attire so you wouldn’t suffer when faced with the snow and slinging a duffle bag over his back it was loaded with what the two of you would need overnight and extra things as a precaution, after all no one knew what the specialist would say, or how the weather would change so he decided to play it safe. After all Takao may not test well, but he wouldn’t lose in wit when it came down to it, he’d proven himself quite a few times on and off the court. “Ready Tecchan? I don’t know who else will be meeting us so I’ll do my best to protect you.” You turned to face the voice and just silently looked at him for a moment, before murmuring and turning away “It seems I have to trouble you more and more Takao-kun…” Silence for half a beat, you heard the train slowing and felt Takao behind your chair touching his chest, maybe fixing his scarf? Then he laughed and answered cheerfully, not fake cheer this time “It’s no trouble Tecchan, I just really want to help you get better. Somehow or another I’m just the best option to help.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While he wheeled you out toward the door to idle your thought slipped out “I’m glad that it’s you…” Either he pretended not to hear or was just focused on the task at hand but Takao didn’t say anything and the door mercifully opened letting cold air burst onto the train. You were unaware of the fact that the point guard wasn’t saying anything because he was caught off guard, his ears were burning red and he couldn’t even feel the cold thanks to the blood in his face. With a gentle trick he carefully maneuvered your chair off the train onto the platform with ease avoiding the flow of people crushing to escape the weather. A pair of familiar voices cried out in unison and you felt Takao lock the chair in place and carefully step around you at the same time. “Kurokocchi!” “Tetsu-kun!” Those two calls gave everything away and despite their good intentions you felt yourself pale a bit, since you couldn’t see them if they pounced you’d have a bit of trouble and Takao had parked you for some reason.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As if to add to the foreboding you heard Momoi’s fast foot falls as she charged forward, but you heard a soft impact and a light whooshing sound. “Utto. Can’t have you do that Momo-chan~ It’s too icy and in a wheelchair that’s dangerous for both of you.” Takao had caught sight of the two rainbow squad members and intercepted Momoi, he caught her and lifted her off the ground to stop her momentum, almost losing his balance he had recovered though and smiled at her setting her back down after a moment. He’d used that catch to deter Kise from trying anything similar and sighed in relief, you could imagine Kise pouting as he whined softly “You really are too cruel to us Takao-kun”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sighing he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head “If you two tackled dived Tecchan you both could have gotten hurt and your rather scary guardians would not have been thrilled… I might be the best locally to look after Tecchan, but he’d feel guilty if you two got hurt trying to greet him no?” He scratched his cheek and reasoned for them. A slight pang in your chest caused you to turn to your side to look at the place the commotion was happening at your side, you might not be able to see it, but it was shocking enough to make you want to try. Takao was really going above and beyond to look after you.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kise was flabbergasted for a moment and after a pause he nodded still pouting and whined “It’s still not fair Takaocchi” A stunned silence followed, Takao didn’t know how to respond to that wittily, after all he had apparently in a moment earned the copy kitten’s respect? The hawk just sort of stared at Kise, not sure what to say until he finally tilted his head and just asked jokingly “Did the fact that I didn’t let you beat up our shadow here earn me your respect?” Before there was an answer there was another set of rushed footfalls sounding quite annoyed, and a telltale impact sounded. Kise had run off leaving Kasamatsu behind in the crowd, now that the crowd had cleared he had caught up and placed a well deserved kick on the ace’s backside. “Kise… Don’t do anything stupid!” Both Takao and Momoi couldn’t help but laugh and greet Kasamatsu as he came over. Kise whimpered pathetically “But senpai I didn’t do anything ssu” As they bickered Momoi frowned a bit and commented “Kazu-kun… I know Dai-chan hit you the other day… But is this cut from then?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You flinched, although you could tell from the lisp that there was some damage, it had to be a bit bad for Momoi-chan to mention it. After all she was Teiko’s manager, she saw some pretty bad injuries and probably even more at Touo. Takao sighed unable to pull his scarf up as she grabbed it he shrugged “It’s not that bad… It’s just had a few irritations thanks to some affectionate players and annoying conversations” He shrugged you assumed that he meant the Yosen pair, Akashi and the phone call with Kise just a little while ago. The manager pouted and shook her head “That’s no good, you can’t irritate it or it’ll keep opening especially in the cold.” There was a rustling sound as she dug through her bag, she pulled out a small tube and opened it carefully putting some gel on her finger. She hesitated for a moment “This is going to sting Kazu-kun” And then she pressed her finger to his lip earning a hiss of pain from the hawk, drawing the attention of the bickering Kaijo pair back over. Kasamatsu frowned and raised his eyebrow “What happened, I highly doubt you fell?” Takao wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or cry at that observation he waited until Momoi was done before thanking her and then saying “Not all of the rainbow was well behaved as Ki-chan…” It explained everything and earned a sigh from Kasamatsu who shook his head and glanced over to the silent babysitter from Touo and asked “You came to look after her personally, does that mean your ace is going to cause a problem later?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A voice you didn’t expect replied from a short distance away from your otherside causing you to flinch having been unable to see him or even hear him approach “Well ya never know, Aomine is difficult. But I also wanted to come since it was my ‘cute kohai’ that caused this in the first place I have ta make sure to harass him over this afterwards so I need ta know what’s going on. Since the meeting was delayed there was no problem in coming out. After all, it’s better not to leave things to chance where the monsters gather so much more often lately…” Kasamatsu frowned and nodded, normally for big event meetings just the coaches and sometimes the captains would be called… But for whatever reason as if to cause spite a few of the big names were called and were meeting here in the city, so they were using it as a training camp of sorts. Kaijo was here naturally, but Shuutoku, Touo Gakuen, Yosen, Rakuzan and Seirin were not entirely local… Which caused some confusion, the smaller inns in the area were booked out to the teams it was like a mini tournament was going to erupt, missing core players, but still it was enough to cause a stir.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Takao rubbed the back of his head glancing at Imayoshi “Yo… Sorry to trouble you Imayoshi-san” He smiled sheepishly and greeted the fox-like senior before sighing “Well before things get more hectic, shall we start moving?” The four nodded and the six of them began walking and rolling to the hospital, the flurries really weren’t anything here so there wasn’t much trouble getting around yet at least. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Four: Triage</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It never failed to be interesting when your old team was around, let alone when their peacekeepers you weren’t overly familiar with were nearby. While Takao was trying his hardest to stay in his element you understood somehow that he didn’t know how to cope with everything all at once, perhaps because you were similar in that respect. When you arrived at the hospital the chatting calmed down a bit, and you learned that the fact the miracles were in town had something to do with some giant event that was supposedly going to happen in the summer, which left the third year captains a bit unsure how to feel. Kise and Momoi had talked about how Akashi had been strangely bitter the entire trip to this point which worried you a bit. Takao gracefully switched control of your wheelchair to Kise while he went to fill out the paperwork, Momoi tagged along in case he forgot anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Since there was little chance of the miracle pair acting up for now the seniors went to chat in the waiting room and get a drink from the vending machines leaving you alone with Kise. He walked with you into a quiet space, knowing you wouldn’t want to attract attention especially if anyone recognized the model here, his popularity had grown again. When you were out of sight he sighed softly and you could hear the small sad smile in his voice, he really was a bad actor “Kurokocchi, how is it staying with Takaocchi? Is he doing a good job? Is it lonely?” You sighed softly, this you could handle “Kise-kun… Takao-kun isn’t a bad person you know, I feel bad he volunteered to help me though…” You fiddled with the scarf you were wearing slowly unwinding it and bringing it into your lap. Before you could chide him over skipping practice he spoke again “You don’t have to feel guilty Kurokocchi, it’s not like he’s being forced to do it. It is weird to take such good care of a rival team member, but Takaocchi values you that much to put himself on the line~ And he already takes care of Midorimacchi so it’s nothing new right?” Your eyebrows knit together as you silently considered this, sensing progress Kise kept talking happily “Honestly Kurokocchi~ You go at your own pace, it’s okay to lean on your friends~ We get lonely otherwise especially since you disappear so quickly, I would have volunteered to take you in if I had been around… But senpai might have killed me” You could hear his fake tears rolling “He doesn’t trust me a whole bunch sometimes, even though I’ve been trying so hard lately… It’s that senior mentality it’s so cruel, how can I help them out when they try to protect me? It’s like that… Except it’s not a team, just one person ssu… But Takaocchi is your friend too right Kurokocchi? It’s okay for him to look after you, if he does anything wrong we’ll rescue you after all! Rely on us more Kurokocchi.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Honestly… Sometimes the model made your head spin, even when you didn’t have an injury he was always like this he could talk and talk even if there was no response to what he was saying. In this case he both supported and seemed to feel threatened by Takao, it was similar to how it was when he tried to recruit you to join Kaijo after he played a one on one with Kagami… You frowned and tilted your head to look at Kise asking “Kise-kun… Why do you seem jealous…? This whole situation is a mess…” The model frowned despite knowing Kuroko couldn’t see him you could feel the intensity of the stare as he said “Jealous? None of us want to leave you to someone else Kurokocchi. We aren’t mature enough to just back down when you get hurt, after all you’re one of our best friends and our greatest rival.” Stunned was too weak a word to describe what you felt as you listened to Kise again he started monologuing again “Really Kurokocchi, you don’t know how important you are to us. Even after you vanished back then we all still considered you a member of the team and you still had our respect for your dedication, and somehow even now you’re dedicated to us… So we can’t help but want to bring you back on our own. Call it our selfish desire, but you’re not allowed to end like this Kurokocchi, nothing has ended. We haven’t settled anything yet ssu!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As he went to continue an unexpected harmony of a male and female voice chastised him in unison “Ki-chan! What are you even talking about?!” Momoi and Takao had returned from the front desk and had to search for the pair, with his eyes Takao was able to find them after they searched the couple waiting rooms. They picked up a couple drinks from the vending machines on their way. The two looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh a bit and Takao commented “Honestly it seems the more I hang around you guys I harmonize with you… Shin-chan is going to get jealous at this rate.” He pressed a bottle into the shadow’s hand “One sports drink, you have to stay hydrated Tecchan. It’ll be a long day.” Kise pouted as he took his drink from Momoi “I was just telling Kurokocchi the truth, even you feel that way Momocchi. Right?” Momoi blinked and pressed her fingers together around her canned coffee “Well, even I want Tetsu-kun to recover quickly, but I think he’s in the best hands with Kazu-kun right now… After all I couldn’t possibly wait on Tetsu-kun hand and foot so early in our relationship~ He’d get mad at me.” Takao sighed exasperated shaking his head these two really were too much sometimes, well really all the time, but they weren’t bad. Takao scratched his cheek while Kuroko took a drink of his sports drink, as he tried to figure out what to say a rather heavy arm pressed down on his shoulder and he almost lost his balance a lazy drawling voice sounded joining the group “So you were here, Satsuki why didn’t you want me to come, you’ve been dragging me everywhere lately.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao sighed and glanced at the tanned ace “I know you’re a bit taller than me Ao-chan… But I really can’t see that I’d make a comfortable leaning post?” The point guard joked calmly, he really was good at showing only what needed to be seen, he’d make a better actor than Kise with how much talent he had for that field. You felt your lips curl a bit as you sipped on the bottle to hide that reaction, it wasn’t really a bad feeling to have your friends getting along this time after that mess before. You heard Momoi exhale quietly beside you, clearly she was relieved that the tension from the injury wasn’t lingering between the two. Takao hadn’t really done much damage, honestly just managing to bruise Aomine’s cheek was impressive with the ganguro’s build and natural physique he was built like a truck. After seeing that she smiled and shook her head “I figured you’d get bored being at a hospital Dai-chan, since you still sleep so much outside of practices. You’re just like an old man.” The snide comment from the pinkette earned a chuckle from both Takao and Kise who watched for Aomine’s reaction. The bored looking ace merely picked at his ear like always as if he’d heard something annoying “Hn… You were worried about bringing me around this guy weren’t you?” He leaned more on Takao, who at least was braced for it this time and didn’t shift as much only sighed which made it obvious to you what happened after all that was typical Aomine back in the day he’d lean on you and you’d support him even if he was really heavy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kise was the one to comment on the situation, which surprised everyone, really it was turning out to be a surprising day one way or another “Aominecchi… Don’t you think you’re putting to much weight on Takaocchi? He is still holding a travel bag and you’re pretty heavy ssu.” Momoi giggle and Takao shrugged his free shoulder “I’ve supported heavier Ao-kun really isn’t that overpowering like this somehow…” You finally chuckled a little which relaxed the trio of rainbow around you, and you could feel the collective smile. Aomine stared at you for a moment before turning to look at Takao, his face was too close leaning as he was, but it didn’t bother him “Hn… you can still mouth off even with that lip? You’re more cheeky than I gave you credit for hawk, no wonder you can deal with Midorima.” Kise whined “Aominecchi can you really comment on the situation like that, Midorimacchi wouldn’t be very happy hearing that. You’re more difficult to handle.” Takao couldn’t resist laughing and shaking his head “You guys really are good friends aren’t you, Shin-chan would get annoyed over your defence as well Ki-chan.” Figuring out how to escape the hawk pressed his own unopened sports drink against the ace’s face then ducked out from under his arm, stretching his spine when he did and you felt the tell tale pressure on the back of your chair, making you aware he was back to your side earning a soft chuckle from you as you hear Aomine complain it was cold as he took the bottle and looked at it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before anyone had time to really comment a female voice called out “Kuroko Tetsuya-kun?” Takao sighed softly and nodded “Well seems we’ll be off for a bit, ready Tecchan?” You merely nodded and muttered “I’m curious to see what they have to say.” As if they wanted to prevent anything from going wrong the captain pair walked over as Takao began guiding you to the hall to meet the nurse. Kasamatsu said “We’ll look after them so they don’t cause a fuss in the lobby, keep us updated Takao.” Blinking the point guard smiled and nodded “If it’s going to take a while I’ll slip into the phone use areas and text you updates so you don’t end up waiting too long. Thanks senpai.” Imayoshi seemed to ruffle the hawk’s hair as you heard a confused sound from him the fox-like senior said “Ya know, it’s good that ya went to Shuutoku, with this personality ya woulda been eaten alive at one of our schools. It’s such an endearin’ personality ya have.” Kasamatsu chuckled and audibly pat his shoulder before ruffling your hair “Go on, and don’t worry so much. Both of you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sighing Takao headed over to the nurse who was looking around, as she called Kuroko’s name again she glanced at the ravenette behind you, which was obvious from how she gasped when you said “Yes… I’m Kuroko.” Earning a chuckle from the point guard and the five from the waiting area who could still see you two. The nurse flushed and nodded “O-of course this way….” She clearly wasn’t sure how to handle this situation and was really embarrassed. Takao murmured an explanation of her to you “She’s a younger nurse, blonde hair a bit taller than Momo-chan. The type who wears pants instead of skirts Tecchan~” Given that you could guess she was more self conscious over the laughter from earlier and you could make a vague mental image given her footsteps and her uneasy fiddling with the file before speaking “You must be Takao-kun, right? Thank you for accompanying Kuroko-kun, we’ll be doing a series of triage tests before you two get to meet with Dr. Johnson, it will be quite strenuous so having a guardian or friend is very helpful for the patient. That said Kuroko-kun, if you get too tired make sure to let us know we don’t want to burden your body or mind too much while doing the testing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Frowning you couldn’t help wonder what tests could be that taxing to your mind and body, but you nodded and said “I will be fine.” Takao smiled and nodded and commented “No worries~ Kuroko’s grandmother was unable to attend so I was given permission to look after him and help out as needed. I’ll make sure to let you know if anything happens, I’m very accustomed to Tecchan’s natural state.” He must have had a dazzling smile because the nurse stammered as she replied again “R-right… Well we’re going to start with a basic triage, as we need to update your file Kuroko-kun. It will be a bit strange I’m sure where--” Takao smoothly cut her off and smiles “Ma’am, please rest assured. Even if Kuroko cannot see it won’t be uncomfortable for him unless someone else makes it so. We’ve already provided his height, weight and medical history. That has not changed in a week’s time which I can guarantee~ So that means the triage is probably blood pressure and taking a sample of blood as a preventative test no?” You tilted your head a bit glancing up at where the voice behind you had sounded, had he been researching the procedures to be prepared for anything? A man who does all that he can will not be betrayed… Was he living up to Midorima standards? It felt rather strange, like there was a hollow feeling in your chest and a fuzzy feeling in your head, was this all your fault causing so many problems and changes for the hawk… You sighed. The nurse froze for a moment and nodded “You’re familiar with the process? Yes. We will be taking Kuroko-kun’s vitals, then bringing you to the lab to draw blood. Our goal is to make sure that everything in his body is stable and the injury did not cause any other problems. The sample will be examined for any hidden diseases or other anomalies like chemical changes from the last recorded sample. Then we will be taking CaT scans and MRIs.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sighing Takao carefully pushed your chair over a little bump murmuring that you were entering the triage room, and that down the hall from here was the lab where you’d probably have blood drawn. You nodded and listened as Takao talked, he had a slight annoyed chill in his voice which might be easy to miss if you didn’t know him personally which was proven by the fact the nurse didn’t notice it “Yes ma’am that was explained already. The hospital plans to do a full examination, the reason being Dr. Johnson is an exceptional doctor renowned for his work with neurology and brain trauma, which is why he agreed to take on Kuroko as a patient. However the hospital wants to ensure that this is not a false case before allowing the patient meet the doctor, which is why this ruse of various tests is being placed. A urine test was waived considering Kuroko is still a student. The blood test is just an annoying extra as he does not have to be drug tested. If we could begin ma’am it would be appreciated.” You shivered slightly, tightening your grip on the sports drink in your lap, feeling the aggravation of Takao made you slightly happy for some reason, as you tried to ignore the slight feeling of guilt that was still bubbling over. As the wheelchair locked you unzipped your jacket carefully slipping off the left arm wrapping it inside the chair under your arm so it wouldn’t get caught on anything if you moved. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Silence answered the hawk, as the nurse wheeled over the cart with the various tools. Takao commented quietly to you what she was doing under his breath so only you could hear, she occasionally gave instructions “Well Kuroko-kun I’m going to apply the blood pressure cuff, if you could lift your left arm slightly for me. I’ll be putting a sensor on your right hand as well.” The she wrapped the cold blue cuff around your arm and she clipped the heart monitor onto your right index finger, Takao caught your drink as it lost its balance he took your scarf as well putting them into the duffle bag for now so you didn’t have to worry about losing them, you thanked him. Frowning a bit you felt the cuff fill with air, it really was uncomfortable, you heard the velcro losing its grip and felt a tingling in your fingertips from it being too tight. It loosened after a moment and she removed the sensors without a word. It seemed she was slightly offended by Takao’s snide comment earlier, so she was the type to be easily standoffish, even being unable to see it your time observing people gave you a good understanding of this nurse before you. You guessed from her personality as soon as she left you two at the lab she would hand your file off to someone else so she didn’t have to deal with your guardian again. Smiling a bit to yourself you nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The nurse put the equipment back after recording the information she needed “Alright, this way to the lab. After you are finished here one of the technicians will be by to pick you up to bring you to radiology.” She turned on her heel and started walking, sighing Takao made sure you were settled before handing you the Pocari you had dropped unlocking the chair and following after her muttering “I call her out and she gets grumpy… Why is it females can be so difficult to deal with? Between this nurse and the rainbow I wonder what’ll happen…. Once we get to the waiting area by radiology I’ll text the senpai and update them like they asked since that’s a free zone for phones.” You nodded as he pushed you and a slight chilly breeze caused you to shiver making him slow down “Sorry Tecchan” You shook your head and murmured “It’s just cold in here, don’t apologize Takao-kun… I wonder if Kise-kun and Aomine-kun will go back to their teams? It seems this will take a while.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Scents of antiseptics and alcohol permeated the air as you got closer to the lab, causing your nose to twitch a couple times like a rabbit you could smell them more clearly since you lacked the ability to see them it was slightly nauseating. Takao frowned a bit as he noticed that and brought you over to the area near the door to sit so the scent of the heat hid the other scents well. The nurse had disappeared to hand off your file, so you were once again alone with Takao, he commented on how the empty room looked it really sounded like a simple room. You sipped your drink and asked after a while “Takao-kun… How much did you research for today?” You tilted your head earning a chuckle from the point guard, you could imagine him shaking his head holding his hands up in a shrug “Well I didn’t want to come in not knowing anything… After all it’d be annoying if they tried to take advantage of you Tecchan… And after that mess with Akashi…. Well I needed to relax some how, so I did a lot of online research and reading… A lot of medical books seem to have been uploaded online free for students to use, I could practically feel the college students who used to buy them crying as I read them” He chuckled in answer. You felt a frown tug at your mouth, that meant that Takao hadn’t gotten much sleep the past few days and was probably exhausted, no wonder Momoi had fussed over him, injuries don’t heal if you don’t sleep properly and care for them. Takao ruffled your hair and shook his head “Don’t worry too much Tecchan I’ve been sleeping my sister doesn’t give me hell for nothing~ Relax~” As you tried to come up with something to say you both froze before laughing a bit, a familiar talk show came on the radio in the back of the office.  Oha Asa that familiar show,  it really was strangely popular. Since it couldn’t hurt you both listened as it listed off the horoscopes and you both frowned it was normal for it to go through the middle placed signs first… But as they rattled off, Scorpio and Aquarius both were not listed.. Which meant one of you was going to have good luck while the other was meant to have bad luck, unknowingly the two of you just sort of looked at each other… Such was always a fun thing… ‘Aquarius is in first place, so long as you always have a sports drink with you everything will go your way. Scorpios however might want to keep your head down today, if you need to do anything be prepared for the slightest trouble, make sure to keep your lucky item a phone charger with you and you will be at least prepared to fend off the bad omens if you aren’t careful all your secrets will be revealed today.’ </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just as he was sighing he flinched, Takao glanced at the radio and shook his head “Honestly… Having played alongside Shin-chan so long I should have expected that.. Cancer was second huh, training camp must be going well then.” Scratching his cheek he resecured the zipper on the duffle bag out of habit hearing the news he sighed “Well hopefully that means today is going to go well… And I get the feeling that means I get to rely on my phone a lot today?” You chuckled and nodded “Well you expected that already didn’t you Takao-kun?” He laughed and nodded leaning his cheek against his hand “Well that’s true, the rainbow crew is probably going to blow up my phone at some point; Then to keep in touch with the senpai and your grandmother later. And then for the hotel…. Everything relies on one stupid phone~ I’ve always been a social butterfly, but I don’t know how popular guys do it. This is too much” He joked and then sighed, he might be outgoing but everyone had a limit to how many people they could handle at once normally. You tilted your head “Are you overwhelmed by everyone Takao-kun?” This was one of the times you couldn’t get a read on him, after all this was a situation that proved you were different from one another; he could easily get crowded and noticed where you faded from the forefront of the problem… This was like misdirection overflow at it’s finest, all the attention was being shielded by Takao he was like a radiant golden hawk being bathed in endless light, despite his role as a shadow player… It must be shocking? Probably? As you mulled it over a calming voice called out your name.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Utto, that would be the lab tech.” Scooping up the bag and pushing the chair again Takao pushed you forward glancing behind him once to make sure he didn’t drop anything before bringing you into the lab and leaning against the doorway. The tech smiled at the two of you and said “You’re Kuroko-kun? I’m sorry for the trouble. I just need to take a couple tubes of blood okay? They want to do some preventative testing since you haven’t had a lab in a while. It’ll be a bit cold, alright? I’ve got to tie off your arm, then disinfect your arm then I’ll insert the needle, you’ll feel me change the bottle twice. Then I can patch you up okay?” You nodded, this technician was overly friendly and understood that although you couldn’t see that didn’t mean you were somehow suddenly stupid… He was kind it was reassuring after the incident with the nurse. He talked while he was prepping, explaining what he was setting up and any sudden sounds. Takao relaxed in the doorway and smiled at the lab tech, the relaxing atmosphere made him yawn slightly, reassuring Kuroko that the hawk indeed probably did not sleep last night or woke up early to shovel them out… The thought made you frown a bit and the tech thought it was from him tying the band “Ah, sorry. I know it’s rather tight it’ll be quick though Kuroko-kun.” He apologetically wiped your arm and you blinked “Ah, no… sorry” Was all you could manage to reply, it wasn’t the technicians fault at all, still your free fingers curled around the sports drink again feeling the needle enter your arm. It wasn’t painful perse just uncomfortable, needles were never really pleasant. Just like he said you could feel the technician change the bottles as the little plastic tube tugged the needle a little bit each time it was moved. It didn’t take long at all until the needle was removed the band was untied and a gauze pad was taped to your arm. The technician smiled and nodded “All set, I’d recommend drinking some of your sports drink to keep your electrolytes up, and maybe get a snack from the vending machine there if you have time. A rice treat or cereal would be recommended. I’ll be back in just a moment to bring you to radiology.” He got up and disposed of the needle and cleaned up before bringing the three bottles out the back door into the heart of the lab to be sent for testing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sighing Takao came back over to your side “How are you feeling Tecchan?” You nodded your head as an answer you didn’t feel any differently, it was just a bit of blood. Did everyone need to worry so much? Honestly you were pretty sure you lost more blood in your practice match against Kaijo back then, that impact really hurt and at that point Kise hadn’t hit you intentionally. You shivered imagining what would have happened if like Hanamiya, Kise had intended to injure you, at that moment you did feel yourself pale a bit even if it was unrealistic somehow it still caused you to feel instinctual fear. Sensing your change in demeanor Takao racked his brain for a moment before frowning and pressing down on your shoulder “Oi Tecchan… You’re not thinking about how that wasn’t much blood and that you lost more during your practice match right? Because if you’re thinking about Ki-chan actually intentionally hurting you I think he’d actually start bawling again... I reaaaaally don’t plan on kissing him again, please don’t break him.” The hawk mused, even his joke lost its edge in the face of his concern, and your fear distracted you from realizing he knew about a match from before you met. Takao poked your cheeks together with his index fingers making your cheeks puff up a bit to avoid being crushed and you slowly recovered yourself and gently swatted away his hand as you would with Murasakibara “Please don’t do that Takao-kun.” You were slightly annoyed as you frowned at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao chuckled and backed off “Yes, yes. As you wish Tecchan~” He started humming some tune to himself something about ‘catal rhythm’ it was a rather catchy tune, but you didn’t realize that the point guard could actually sing. It was soft like a hum, but he was actually singing and he didn’t sound bad. After about what you assumed to be half of the song the technician came back and grinned “Sorry for the wait Kuroko-kun, and Takao-kun. I’ll show you the way to radiology then. If you’ll follow me, we have to go back by triage since there are a few emergency patients being shuttled around in the back it’s best not to get in the way of the ER; normally we’d be able to cut directly through.” Leading back down the hallway to the door by the main lobby you were shepherded through another door to a very cold and long hallway which split off to a hall that led to emergency, an elevator hub and another hall that forked at the end by a wall of windows to a courtyard. As you commentated where you were and what was around you the technician stopped someone going to an elevator with a cart and took a thin blanket off setting it on Kuroko’s lap “It gets cold in radiology, keep this blanket. You can leave it in your room later.” You smiled and thanked the man as you resumed moving. It really was a long hallway like Takao described and it was indeed cold. Being by the windows you could feel a draft even if they were all sealed, you felt thankful for the blanket on your lap. Once you entered the double doors the technician smiled to Takao “You can bring Kuroko-kun into the waiting room to your right, I’ll bring his file to the desk, someone will get you when they’re prepared to do the tests. Good luck Kuroko-kun, Takao-kun.” Without waiting for a reply he walked away Takao quickly thanked his retreating back and brought you into the slightly warmer waiting room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Would you like a snack or another sports drink Tecchan? There are vending machines here too.” Takao asked as he backed you into a quiet spot away from the obvious noise of televisions in the corner. You shook your head, it wasn’t normal for you to eat much during the day in the first place, so even though you just finished your drink you didn’t really want another right away. Blinking Takao nodded “Got it, I’ll throw the empty bottle out first and I’ll get a couple to keep in the bag while I shoot a message to our senpai. I’ll be right back.” He ruffled your hair and slipped the bottle out of your hands gracefully and walked away his footfalls muffled by the carpet sounded a bit noisy as if he was trying to make sound to relax you, making you smirk slightly. It wasn’t easy to be heard on a carpet, but the hawk was managing that took some skill you couldn’t help but appreciate for some reason. You heard the bottle fall into the receptacle and swift typing on his cell phone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao typed up a quick update ‘Triage is taking a while. They’re going through an endless cycle to make sure Tecchan is a good patient to meet their VIP. We finished with vitals and the blood lab, we’re in radiology at the moment. He’ll be having a CAT scan and an MRI for now. It’ll be awhile before we make it into a room to meet the doctor, even though it’s super quiet back here there are apparently a bunch of emergency patients getting shuttled around so hopefully that doesn’t interfere with Tecchan’s testing. I’ll keep you updated Senpai.’  and he sent it before walking over to the vending machines buying a couple more sports drinks and glancing at the snack machine. Scanning it there wasn’t anything particularly appealing as expected, but Takao’s eye caught a small vanilla cake thing and shrugged might as well put a couple in the bag in case either of you got hungry. Although Takao wasn’t a huge fan of sweets now and then they weren’t awful to have. Pulling out the treats and the drinks Takao walked back over to Kuroko putting one drink into your hands and opening the duffle bag tucking whatever else he bought inside. You sighed “Thank you Takao-kun.” As you heard the bag zip back up there was a buzzing sound which made you tilt your head. “Is that the senpai getting back to you?” Takao hummed clipping the zippers together before pulling out his phone “Yup. They said since it’s going to be a while they’ll drag the rainbow back to practice and let Seirin know how you’re doing as well. They said to take care, and for me to send them our hotel room info later in case someone is close by so they can check in, since we’re only a pair of cocky freshmen.” You could hear the laughter in Takao’s voice, he wasn’t used to being overly spoiled and even with Shuutoku the seniors around him were making up for that, so he couldn’t help but laugh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You nodded “Alright, we’ll have to keep them updated still.” As Takao agreed and put his phone away “We will have to, after all our seniors both friendly and competing are far to friendly. I wonder which teams will be in our hotel, I picked something that was reasonably close to here that wouldn’t hassle us over being students checking in so there is probably at least one team there if I had to guess.” Kuroko shook his head, he couldn’t guess either, the whole gathering was somewhat unpresidented to begin with so predicting anything was nearly impossible. As you both mused over the possibilities a cheerful female voice cut across the room “Kuroko Tetsuya-kun?” Takao stretched and gestured to you before getting up again putting the duffle bag over his shoulder before pushing you forward, you were really starting to get tired of sitting…. You hoped that these scans wouldn’t take long so you two could go back and stretch and do the work out routine you two started together. It would be good to alleviate these stiff muscles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sighing in unison the two of you faced forward, and Takao chuckled hearing your sigh join his “No worries Tecchan, this shouldn’t take long.” The nurse waited for you two to come over before greeting you “Please follow me, we’re going to start with the CT scan. Kuroko-kun you’re not wheelchair bound entirely right, it’s for convenience correct?” When you nodded assent the nurse smiled “I’m glad to hear that, it makes things much easier as we won’t need to get a PCA to come out, regulations and such can be a thorn when dealing with tests like these. However we want to be sure each patient is entirely safe” She glanced at Takao and smiled “You must be the notorious Takao-kun, you don’t seem as ruthless as the first nurse made you out to be. She must have unleashed her barbed tongue, honestly that girl can be a bit careless in front of gorgeous people and the two of you probably unnerved her.” Your eyebrows lifted in curious surprise, that wasn’t exactly something you were sure how to respond to, you hoped that Takao’s wit could manage this one. The hawk blinked a few times and chuckled not disappointing your expectations “Well I suppose I stopped trying to deal with glib tongue as well~ She was looking down on Kuroko, which isn’t exactly ideal treatment for anyone especially someone who is amazingly observant as my friend. So when she tried to cut corners I guess I got defensive. I am nicknamed after a bird of prey after all I don’t always play nice” He glossed over the appearance comment with a smile that elicited a giggle from the nurse who shook her head and commented “Honestly, you’re too much. Once you reach college you’re going to have scandal after scandal with that persona of yours.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That uncomfortable conversation ended with a door opening she smiled and gestured you two in “Takao-kun could you help Kuroko-kun lay down on the metal table with his head on the pillow? I’m going to prep the machine, when you’re done please move the wheelchair to the back corner with the glass shield, you’ll be standing with me there as well. It may be faint, but a CT scan still elicits some radiation. Anything metal needs to be removed, so piercings or zip up jackets.” Nodding Takao sighed, describing the room to Tecchan as he wheeled the chair over and stopped “We’re closer to the wall than the table, since I know you’re dying to stretch a bit Tecchan.” You heard him put down the duffle bag and then felt the light weight of the blanket leave your lap and you offered the sports drink to him which he took setting them both down with the bag and he then knelt and flipped up the foot rests which you had removed your feet from. When he was done he tapped your hand gently and you carefully got up removing the other side of your jacket carefully, it stung a little bending the arm with the gauze, as if he noticed that Takao helped you and took your jacket. Hearing the light swish you assumed he tossed it onto the back of the wheelchair. Blinking Takao realized “You won’t want to keep your phone or wallet in your pocket Tecchan if you have either I’ll hold onto them until we finish the scans.” You realized that you had actually kept both in your pocket out of habit and nodded pulling them out, handing them to where his voice sounded from. Takao chuckled and took them “Old habits die hard, it’s a good thing.” After Takao took the two items and put them in his own pocket he took your hand and walked you along the open floor for a moment before guiding you to the table.  “Alright Tecchan the table is around hip height for you, if you reach out to your right you should feel it.” Obediently you reached out your free right hand and groped the air for a moment before finding the table a bit lower than your hip. It was solid steel and ice cold, you shivered as you released Takao’s hand and sat down Takao nodded “It’s freezing. We’ll warm you right up after this is done. Alright swing your legs up to the right and scoot over to the center a bit” You followed his instructions and felt his hand gently touch the back of your head as if he were handling glass, without needing the accompanying words you gave a slight nod before leaning back against his hand to lay down, he guided you to the pillow and made sure you didn’t risk hitting your head again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Watching the two of you the nurse that neither of you were paying attention to whistled softly and murmured to herself ‘I wish my boyfriend was as caring as Kuroko’s… That’s some devotion.’ Although it was quiet and neither of them were supposed to hear it, they both did. Takao flushed red and his gentle smile turned slightly embarrassed, while you pretended not to hear it. Takao chuckled as your head settled into the pillow “Alright Tecchan, keep your arms in… This one is going to be weird, the machine moves along the table and it’ll feel like you’re going through a tunnel. Keep your eyes closed so the light doesn’t hurt kay?” You nodded wondering if that was embarrassment you heard in Takao’s voice, if it was that was rare, though you didn’t notice it was becoming more common the more you were together. Carefully you closed your eyes and crossed your arms over your stomach as Takao walked to the corner of the room where the technician was waiting with a teasing smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Kuroko-kun I’m going to start the machine alright. Stay still it will be a bit loud, try not to jump.” She hit the button then she asked Takao softly so you couldn’t hear “Are the two of you dating? You two have this sort of amazing atmosphere between you, I don’t even know what to call it, it’s like unconditional trust or something. No one else even matters, I thought that Miya was kidding, but even Shuu the lab tech said the same thing.” Takao’s face burned red as he shook his head swallowing, self deprecatingly he murmured back “No we’re not together, Tecchan would never notice me like that. He’s got bigger things to worry about.” That didn’t stop his ears from burning or his eyes from turning gentle and glancing over to the table where the shadow laid he murmured “I dunno if I’ll even get to tell him at this rate…” The tech blinked and pat his shoulder “Don’t give up kid, you’ll never know if you don’t try.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The whirr of the machine was a bit overwhelming as you were told, but it didn’t startle you as you expected it. You could feel the light shining on your skin, no wonder Takao warned you to close your eyes it was a weird feeling. The machine moved over your body a couple times from your head to your chest and back before moving back to the end of the table. As the sound stopped you heard the nurse telling Takao not to give up and he responded with a very warm quiet voice “I’ll never give up… I’ve managed this long, I’ll tell him one day, one way or another.” You were curious what they were talking about but when a ping sounded from the corner you knew the conversation ended there. The nurse nodded “Alright I’ll send these over to the doctor first, then why don’t we all walk down to the MRI room. It’s not far but will give Kuroko-kun a chance to stretch out some more. If you put your things in the wheelchair I’ll push it down for you.” She said with a smile as Takao’s face burned brighter, despite his embarrassment his voice hid it well as he chuckled “Appreciate it ma’am, that would be amazing.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Obediently he loaded the duffle bag, blanket and sports drink into the chair. Thinking about it he tucked Kuroko’s wallet and phone into his pants pocket and crossed over to you. You were laying there, recovering from the dizzying noise, but you appreciated that you wouldn’t have to get wheeled down a short hallway this time. To keep his promise the hawk shrugged off his sweater and after he helped you up he put it over your shoulders. It was rather large on you where he was a bit taller and more muscular, but it was warm from him keeping it on this whole time it was comforting. You put your arms in the sleeves for now, to stay warm and he chuckled “Orange isn’t really your color, good thing you didn’t come to Shuutoku to flashy for you.” The point guard teased but you ignored it, feeling the warmth he was giving you. After a moment he took one of your hands and lightly tugged just slowly pacing around with you to get your blood flowing while you waited for the nurse to finish what she was doing. She sent the file and cleaned the table and changed the pillow case before apologizing for the wait and leading to the door. She wheeled the chair over with care and opened the door. “This way then boys.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao lightly squeezed your hand as he led the way out carefully, your fingers twined with his as you followed him, he kept you close to his side while you walked linked together. Standing close to his side you didn’t worry about crashing into anything even though you weren’t familiar with the area, Takao was hypervigilant and always stopped you whenever you were about to walk into things whenever you went out together. It felt nice and relaxing to walk for a while since you’d been sitting since you left this morning, sighing softly you felt the tension in your shoulders relax away a bit. The nurse opened a door ahead of you guys. Your footsteps slowed as you mimicked Takao more accurately as he guided you to the room. The nurse was already setting up the machine, the room was practically identical but the machine was a bit more intimidating looking. As the hawk walked you over to the machine he described it, it was similar to the other one except white and more plastic looking than the other one which was very metallic and robot looking. You frowned at the mental image you got, it was hard to picture, since you never needed an MRI or CAT before you didn’t actually have a baseline image for the machines. Sighing softly you nodded and after the nurse was ready Takao led you to the table again, you handed him his hoodie back before sitting down. The table was a bit higher, so when you sat your feet didn’t quite touch the floor which was an odd feeling. Once again Takao lowered you to the pillow with a feather’s touch, this time however he lightly brushed your hair away from your forehead pausing for a moment near the bruise before flitting away. “Just like the other one you’re going to go through a bright and noisy tunnel. Arms in eyes closed alright Tecchan? We can have a snack in the next waiting room.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You could hear a sort of brotherly concern in his tone as he said that, perhaps because the tests were mentally taxing, or maybe just because it was cold but you ended up wanting a bit more of that warmth… Quite a weird feeling you couldn’t describe, was it because you didn’t have siblings? You felt his hand leave your hair and heard him walk over to the nurse’s section so she could start the machine. You closed your eyes and tucked your arms in a bit more tightly, squeezing in that strange unnamed feeling while you waited for the scans to end.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter Five: The Never Ending Testing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Takao was almost as nervous as the little shadow, not that you were aware of that at the moment. The machine was whirring to life and the sounds blocked out the outside world, it didn’t quiet do anything to silence your drumming heart. ‘How strange… Is this really from Takao’s warmth… I feel so cold right now… I don’t understand.’ You were still, tensing your muscles refusing to shiver or flinch because you didn’t want this to take longer. After a few moments you felt the tunnel that was more narrow than the first sliding away and your muscles slowly relaxed. You knew that before the nurse spoke Takao would be at your side again, and true to your belief there was a tap on your left hand as the nurse was saying “Good job Kuroko-kun, you did wonderfully. These scans will help Dr. Johnson assess your situation immediately and come up with a treatment plan, from here we’ll be headed up to the specialist floors. As Takao-kun expected you passed the blood tests, there’s nothing to be concerned about in the results. Everything is normal, though your iron levels were a bit high which was concerning.” As the nurse was speaking Takao had helped you sit up and pulled the hooded jacket back over you, he murmured “You know… This doesn’t have metal in it, so you can keep wearing it for now. ‘Kay?” Your head bobbed as he helped you stand up, as the nurse finished speaking you both looked over curiously, there was a binging sound as if the computer received a message.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Considering Takao’s hand twined around yours slightly more tightly, you imagined the nurse was wearing an ugly concerned expression that made him uneasy. The hawk realized his nervousness was felt by you and gently rubbed your knuckles with his thumb “Sorry Tecchan, didn’t mean to hurt your hand~” He didn’t try to say nothing was wrong, he wasn’t one to ignore a situation, so he gave an honest apology and guided you towards the wheel chair. The nurse offered a sigh which you could hear as you approached the cold air, so the back of the room under Takao’s gentle instruction. “Hm… Sorry Takao-kun, Kuroko-kun. I’ll be bringing you downstairs first, they’d like to run a couple different tests. Are you familiar with Ultrasounds? It will be an ultrasound and an X-Ray. One of the aides will be coming up to the waiting room to collect you two and escort you both to the lower radiology level, and the specialist.” The hawk carefully scooped up the things in the chair with one hand, before helping you back into the chair with ease, being this close you could feel his muscles as his arm brushed against your leg in his distraction. You’d always known he was well built, but that feeling caused you to shiver, which once again confused you. The ravenette secured the foot rests and frowned wrapping you in the blanket, clearly he saw that shiver you hadn’t realized. You could hear him sling the duffle bag over his shoulder and he placed a sports drink in your hands again, a faint smile tugged at your lips. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Polite and practiced you knew Takao bowed to the radiologist and smiled “Thank you for you care, We’ll head back to the waiting room now then.” With a flourish he carefully started wheeling you again, you could hear him open the door and he was chittering again, talking about how chilly it was and about what kind of machine an Ultrasound used. Frowning you muttered “...You didn’t sleep at all?” You could feel him trip when the chair lurched slightly although not enough for you to drop anything or fall, just enough to confirm your suspicions. “Why…?” That was all you asked and then you waited, the point guard brought you back to the room with the tvs and you sipped on the sports drink while you waited and his pouting was evident in his voice “Nn… You’re not fair Tecchan… Asking questions like that… When I’m not expecting them is kinda cruel you know?”  You heard him swallow and you tilted your head, it didn’t sound like he was taking a drink… Was he nervous for some reason? Listening more closely you could hear his breathing was slightly catching as if he was contemplating what to say, finally he sighed and you hear him ruffle through the duffle bag, he pressed a small box into your hand, it was thin and rather long. “This is something I planned to give you later, its a necklace…” You felt his hands gently twine around yours, opening the box and letting you feel the cold metal, it was soft, it wasn’t sharp at all. Once you got toward the middle there were charms, a sun, a moon, what felt like a basketball and a disk engraved like yin and yang. But in the middle there was an empty space for some reason. “....?” You wanted to ask about why this was given to you, but the words wouldn’t come. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao sighed softly and released your hands, you imagined him closing his eyes as you felt him tense up taking his breath. “...I suppose I have to explain or you’ll end up just being uneasy… I guess it’s one way to distract you, but you have to promise, you won’t get upset. Deal?” You felt your eyebrows draw together in confusion, what could possibly cause you to get upset over his reason? You nodded and tilted your head “Do you think I could wear this now? It’s not like it’ll affect anything…” Takao chuckled “I’m flattered, we should wait until after your x-ray though. I’ll put it on then okay?” You smiled and nodded carefully handing the box back, you felt it leave your hands and returned your grip to the sports drink resting in your lap. Taking another breath after closing the bag Takao returned to his ‘cheery self’ he said “Well to explain why I bothered to stay up… Since you realized it wasn’t just proving myself to Sei-chan…” You felt his hand gently stroke your hair and his fingers brushed your cheek, his voice was soft almost a whisper you wouldn’t hear if you weren’t focused on him entirely “I’d do anything for things I love… Even if I hate studying, I’d never risk anything happening to you…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That… Sounded like a confession? Confusion probably filled your expression and you heard Takao’s walls shooting up and he chuckled, depreciating himself again “Really it’s weird right… Hearing something that sounds like a confession. But I mean… I really enjoy being with you and I’d be sad if anything happened to you~” For some inexplicable reason your chest tightened, and it might be your imagination, but that cheerful voice sounded abnormally weak as he said those words, and you realized you couldn’t figure out what sort of expression he was wearing while he talked like that… Like Kise he was very expressive, always smiling or showing his reactions as if he were a book meant to be studied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A soft vibrating sound cut across your train of thought and the hawk cheerfully changed the subject, sounding relieved “Oh it’s senpai~ Seems they’re worried about us cocky freshmen” He joked and pulled up the message and hissed “Oh boy, it seems we arrived just in time… The storm outside is getting pretty bad here as well. Mm looks like they’re about to issue a weather warning here…” As he said that the voice on the television announced that there was a blizzard emergency in effect and people should avoid travelling outside if possible, subway service will be suspended once the current trains reach the end of their lines. You could hear Takao typing away on his phone explaining the situation to the waiting seniors, and he quickly called their hotel, explaining they would likely be spending tonight at the hospital, although they would still need the room tomorrow if it came to it and someone needed a room they wouldn’t mind giving up on it. The manager made notes and thanked Takao for his call and said they would call him if they did book out the room, so as to not inconvenience them. Takao was smiling as he finished the call, and that made you frown for some reason… Really what was going on? Everything felt so weird.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After dealing with that Takao hooked up his phone to a charging pack for now and gently pet your hair again seeing the troubled expression decorating your face. This Scorpio really was too difficult to understand… Whenever you felt like you started to understand everything turned on it’s head and nothing made sense anymore, over and over again. As you were about to ask a gentle male voice called your name, Takao began narrating again as he scooped up your belongings and began pushing the chair. Apparently this assistant was a younger resident looking doctor, he had chestnut hair, deep brown eyes and wore glasses. He was about Furihata’s height, and rather masculine. He didn’t sound too memorable, but seemed the type that would be patient, understanding and overly observant; A tricky type to deal with. Takao glanced at Kuroko’s troubled expression and chuckled, understanding what the shadow must be thinking and he shrugged “Hm… He probably would be a pain for you normally huh?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The assistant tilted his head as the two walked over, their conversation too quiet to be heard by him. Adjusting his glasses with his fore and middle finger he looked at the two boys approaching him “Ah, the notorious Takao-kun and Kuroko-kun. I’m Dr. Izaya, I’ll be guiding you for the next leg of your visit. Due to your condition, The doctor’s request and the weather we’ll also be arranging a room for you to stay in for the evening. Depending on the results of your next two tests and your condition after dinner we may begin treatment as soon as this evening.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You shivered subconsciously tilting your head to ‘look’ at Takao, it felt like the temperature behind you had dropped a few degrees. Your caretaker was likely glaring at the doctor, which meant he had a very cocky expression and was almost unbearable. His voice held a trace of annoyance “Forgive me doctor. However, we have yet to even consult with Dr. Johnson, I think it is too early to give such statements so irresponsibly. Can we proceed with the two remaining tests. We would greatly appreciate the chance to actually meet with the specialist we were scheduled to.” With an internal sigh, you could only helplessly drink your Pocari as you made an attempt to ignore the lightning you could feel generating between the two. The assistant chuckled “You truly are a force to be reckoned with Takao-san, you’re quite protective of Kuroko-kun, jealousy is unbecoming, especially in someone so young. We’ll be taking the elevators to the lower level, please follow me.” You heard the crunch of the carpet as he turned on his heal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After that exchange you could only frown ‘Jealousy’ ‘I support you’ ‘Don’t give up so easily’ ‘We haven’t settled anything yet’ ‘You’re turning my brother into a house-wife’ ‘Don’t propose in a bathroom!’ An array of voices flashed through your mind as the silence spread between you three. Closing your eyes, without realizing it your hand lifted to your temple where the bruise was still clear and vivid against your skin. Takao lightly put his hand over yours “Are you in pain Tecchan?” You lightly moved your head and then shook it “Nn… Just thinking…” Takao blinked and smiled nodding “I understand~” He sounded slightly less confident than normal, but the assistant either didn’t notice, or chose to ignore the soft feeling in the escort’s voice. There was a winding path of halls downstairs, from the elevator to the rooms used for x-ray and ultrasounds it was opposite where they came from, so it was like a small maze.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All those comments, thoughts and uneasiness twined with the strange sensations recently. Like the pain or racing of your heart, the craving for his warmth, the natural dependence despite knowing you would be able to manage alone… Perhaps… Maybe it wasn’t Takao who like him… Was it that you were starting to fall in love with him? The more you thought the more muddled your thoughts became, and nothing made sense.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While you were drowning, a tap on your hand brought you back “Mm?” Takao chuckled, “You really got lost in thought ne Tecchan? We’re doing the x-rays first, I’m going to help you to the table now alright? Can you stand?” He was gentle as his hand slid under yours ready to help you up. Slowly you touched your feet to the floor, how lost were you? You hadn’t even noticed him flip up the foot rests or the arrival to this overly clean smelling room. The hawk explained the room as he guided you, it was another cold metal table, it was lower than the last one so your feet touched the floor, however it was wider and so it took a bit more effort to lay in place properly. With Takao’s instruction you settled and your eyes closed, gently the hawk stroked your hair away from the bump and he assisted the doctor with positioning you so that the doctor wouldn’t touch your injury by accident. The point guard’s hands were very large and comforting so you didn’t mind, even if it was an unusual thing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The assistant was watching Takao as if the ravenette was dangerous, unable to see what was going on you could still sense a strange air around you earning a slight pout. Takao of course noticed and smiled a bit “Sorry Tecchan, it’ll be done soon.” After the x-rays were taken Dr. Izaya left you two in the waiting room, the ultrasound was in use right now. In the waiting room Takao deftly pulled out the necklace and smiled “It’s going to be slightly cold, but shall I help you put your necklace on now Tecchan?” You gave a nod and felt his hands lower on either side of your head, the cold metal brushing your neck as he clasped the necklace and smiled “There you go~” You gently touched the cold metal again as if it would break from your touch and smiled, this gift was unexpected, but it caused an unexpected warmth in your chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You could hear Takao typing on his phone, he was explaining to the senpai about the changes in procedure and the fact they’d be spending the night. Out of curiosity he asked if any teams were booked at the hotel they were supposed to stay at, as amusing as it turned out Seirin and Shuutoku seemed to be bound by the gears of fate, both of them were staying at your allotted hotel. Once he found this out he was almost noticeably shaking with laughter “Tecchan, Tecchan. We won’t be lonely when we check into the hotel tomorrow! It seems both Shuutoku and Seirin are staying there! How fun!” Trying to keep the mood up he was doing his best, you could only remember his conversation with Aomine that caused the slight lisp you still hear and felt your heart sink a bit… ‘Takao-kun… He’s more worried than anyone else about this…? I wonder why… It’s not his fault’ You tilted your head subconsciously and Takao didn’t fail to notice “Something on your mind Tecchan?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His laughter easily subsided and he was back at your side in a moment, carefully opening the duffle bag he shifted things around and pulled out a package that sounded like some form of chip or cracker wrapping. Zipping the bag back up and opening the package setting it in your free hand “Here, you must be hungry by now with all these tests and waiting… You should eat something light, I’m glad I grabbed these vanilla cookies earlier, they seemed like something you’d like… And if they are going to do any work tonight you’ll be exhausted after so you should probably eat now.” You sighed softly and nodded “Thank you… Takao-kun… You’re really amazing sometimes…” You could feel his eyes on you probably confused, waiting for a continuation which you didn’t offer, you just obediently ate a cookie “...It’s good…” It wasn’t hard to imagine him similar to Kise, getting dispirited by your change of subject, and his unique quirk to bounce back and smile as he commented “I’m glad you like them Tecchan~ They don’t sell those down here it seems, so I’m super glad I got them earlier” It was impossible for you to realize he was blushing and probably thanking Oha Asa that no one was around to catch his face burning. “Mm~” You continued eating and he took up his dedicated role of talk-showing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There wasn’t anything else to call it, during meals he’d ramble if he wasn’t eating with you; Sometimes even if he was he’d pause his own meal to talk and only take a bite if you interjected. “I wonder if we’re actually going to meet Dr. Johnson today… It sounds like they have some ideas though if they have us down here for more tests ne Tecchan? Seems like coming all the way to Kanagawa was a good move. Despite all the crazy snow everything is going well. I’m glad! Hopefully your team doesn’t give me too much of a headache this time, ne? Your coach is pretty scary… Seirin is really lively, wonder if they brought Nigou with them? The hotel allows pets so I guess they would have~” He leaned back in his chair and hummed “Oh right~ If they do decide to do anything today I’ll help you change, they suggest button up shirts so you don’t have to pull anything over your head. Don’t wanna mess with the bandages or anything. Mine will be baggier on you so I’ll lend you one mkay? It’s white, not orange like most of my sweaters and jackets now. Jeez… I never really was a fan of orange before high school it’s such a loud color. I like greens and blues the most, cool and calm. But when you’re aiming to stand out orange isn’t a bad choice.”  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>How many times were you going to question your imagination today? Did he sound slightly sad? Frowning you continued munching on your cookies and Takao continued either oblivious or ignoring the troubled expression you wore for once “I think I’ve said this before Tecchan, but it’s thanks to you that Shin-chan was able to open up to us. He’s always been amazing, but he didn’t dare to trust us, even though we ‘regular guys’ would practice until our bodies gave out and then even more… He felt like he had to go it alone, you know? When we first enrolled in Shuutoku I felt like my heart froze over for a bit, the guy I wanted to beat the most was my teammate? What kind of joke was that… So I would ‘compete’ with him during our training sessions… I just wanted him to acknowledge that even ‘regular players’ were worth the space on the court… Ya know… Most guys from my middle school quit, we didn’t even face the full force of the miracles… it was Shin-chan, Ki-chan and At-chan on the bench… They were competing the whole time, it’s like we weren’t worth a second glance… And of course the scores didn’t argue that, but… I couldn’t just give up… For me basketball is something I love, even if the sounds become painful and the passes I made were causing my heart to break… I didn’t give up, I wouldn’t. Still you can’t play a game alone, much less against two monsters who lost their love for the game… So we burned through the roster… By the end of the match I was the only one who wasn’t looking at the time counting down… I felt so small like it was impossible… Still my sister who had no one else to come home to most nights, loved hearing me rattle on about my games, or the practices, or even my foolish dream of making it onto a trading card one day… So I couldn’t let myself be crushed… Or at least I couldn’t show I was crushed, you know? It’s hard holding back tears, or making sure no ones looking when you start bawling…” You looked toward where his awkward laugh sounded from wishing you knew what to say, that was one of the games you hadn’t played. What words could you possibly say now? Takao seemed to notice you and ruffled your hair “Oi. Oi don’t pull that face… It’s ancient history you know! There’s no reason to worry about it, just seemed like I should tell you the full story since you told me yours, you know? Sorry, sorry didn’t mean to trouble you so much” With a sigh you managed to pout a bit and lightly swatted his hand away “...You sounded upset.” The slight explanation earned a chuckle, and he caught your hand in his giving it a light squeeze before letting it go “Thank you then Tecchan… Really, thank you ne…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The atmosphere was strained for a while, even though Takao tried to rebound it talking about all of Shuutoku’s bonding times, from their training camps to their forced study sessions. When that failed Takao sighed and decided he’d go down a different track “So you know my sister has a thing for fashion? I don’t know where she gets it from… Well I guess having an eye for design and stuff is similar to my observation? Maybe it’s something like that… She’s always loved making stuff… When she was small she’d end up covering the house in glitter because the tops would pop off on her… Do you know basketballs can easily pick up glitter, but won’t let it go? It’s worse than with clothes for real... Around her fifth year in elementary she decided she was going to start making clothes and designing outfits… Which was all well and good… But apparently since she couldn’t ‘fix them’ while wearing them… That’s how I got roped in… I don’t get what she was thinking having me model female clothes… But any time I’d get a break from club, she’d pounce on me, practicing make-up, fitting clothes, trying out wigs… I mean I guess in middle school I would have a proper build for that sort of thing… But the more I practiced the more I toned out you know… Do you know how many ‘tricks’ she’s come up with to hide that by now? I didn’t even think it was possible… It’s almost scary how she can make me seem ‘natural’ in women’s clothes… I’m almost afraid to have you come over after you heal, since she knows you… She won’t hesitate to bring out those albums… She understands you more than Shin-chan or Miyaji-senpai who come over the most…” You couldn’t help but laugh, it wasn’t hard to imagine the suffering Takao must have gone through, even though you had no siblings, playing dress up was a common thing for girls so being the victim must have been hard “Hm… If it’s Takao-kun… I think your awareness of your body and how others see you would make it easy for you to fill that role, as long as you didn’t talk too loudly?” Tilting your head, you then shook it and he laughed “It’s not easy to imagine what’d look like right? I’m glad that’s the case though. If you really want to see I’ll consider showing you one day Tecchan, but it’s her fashion that’s the impressive thing!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After finishing the Pocari, the cookies and the random tales of Takao in middle school, Mr. Izaya finally returned “They’ve finished using the ultrasound room, we can head in. Shall we?” Takao got to his feet and dutifully scooped up the bag and threw away the trash before wheeling you over to the voice of Dr. Izaya. The tension was gone and you were both rather happy, though admittedly tired. Dr. Izaya didn’t speak right away, given how he was described he was probably looking the two of you over, assessing you again. For some reason you felt a chill run down your back and you adjusted the blanket on your lap frowning to yourself. What was that uneasy feeling from?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao seemed a bit guarded as he spoke “Ah really, what a relief I was afraid we’d end up spending the night here in the waiting room” Good natured, light hearted, and tense it was rare for such conflicting feelings to come from the hawk who was behind you; at this moment he seemed more like Akashi or Imayoshi would. He was like a bird of prey probing his victim getting ready to attack if it came down to it? Swallowing you merely closed your eyes and listened. To the conversation flowing between doctor and guardian:</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Izaya was slightly sardonic “No need to worry so needlessly, even if there are a lot of patients today, we will allow no one to miss the testing they need.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Takao had a chill to his voice “Oh, is that so? Considering the notoriety of this hospital I never expected a little snow storm could freeze operations so easily, it seems the staff is quite chill here. How interesting, makes me quite glad I’m from Tokyo.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Izaya sighed “Oh? Is that so. I’d like to think our reliability is higher than our counterparts in the big city.” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Takao chuckled and used a warm voice “Oh, shouldn’t you be supporting the branches regardless of area? Or is it you feel inferior working in a ‘side-branch’? How disappointing. Ah~ Tecchan we’re going into the new area.” He began explaining to you the layout of the room, the test this time was much less ‘cold’ the table was padded and covered with paper, it was very sterile and the cleaning agents could still be smelled faintly. This test was basically a scan, a gel would be applied and a small ‘scanner’ would lightly be moved across your head and over your eyes to investigate something it seemed. It truly was a strange concept, but apparently it could detect anomalies in the brain from the injury the other tests might miss. According to Dr. Izaya this was a request from Dr. Johnson himself after reviewing the other two tests, the CAT and the MRI scans respectively. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once again like a dutiful partner before you could even attempt to free yourself Takao was already helping you up. Takao had parked the chair away from the table to allow you to stretch a bit again, you mentally thanked him and took the time he gave you; this wheelchair bound day was making you quite antsy. Even if you couldn’t do anything crazy, just simple muscle work, or cardio was better than not moving for hours on end. You found yourself wondering how Takao who had more energy than you wasn’t going stir-crazy from sitting so much today, it must be just as irksome for the point guard, right? With a quiet voice only you could hear and a soft touch to your hand and lower back your feet found the step to the tall table, designed for convenience for laboring mothers to be seen, and sat on the crinkling paper. With a simple touch you found the middle and sat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dr. Izaya handed something to Takao saying, do help Kuroko-kun put on this cap; the gel is quite unpleasant if it gets into your hair; although it washes off it would be like glue.” Your lips pulled downwards a bit and you felt Takao’s icy tone as he had spoken to the first nurse of the day ‘Kara’ was it? “....Dr. Izaya-san; you do know that despite an injury Kuroko-kun is able to communicate, understand, take direction and do things on his own. He is not crippled, retarded, deaf or stupid. Although I appreciate you including me, giving me direction as if I was with someone whom could not understand is far from appropriate behavior.” Choosing to ignore whatever Dr. Izaya would say in return Takao came over, you could feel his body near yours and he murmured “Excuse me for a moment Tecchan, this is a shower cap to keep your hair back. I’ll be gentle around the bruise so be sure to tell me if it stings at all okay?” His breath tickled as he began putting the cap on “Since we don’t know if it’ll spread or anything I’ll make sure to get all of your hair okay? I don’t want to let you deal with spikes caused by that, if it’s similar to glue that’d be quite painful and a nuisance to wash out later.” Humming softly for only the two of you to hear he started with the uninjured left side of your head, and worked around the back  to the right. His fingers were gentle and dedicated; he didn’t hesitate. Making sure the elastic didn’t press down on the bruise he manipulated the cap around your hairline and ears. You shivered hearing the plastic and feeling his fingers against your skin. Not being able to see, but feeling how close he was, your heart was beating faster as if you were in a high tension match. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once he was done Takao announced he finished and stepped down, but he didn’t walk away from the table. He probably was just staring at Dr. Izaya who had been waiting. Dr. Izaya chuckled and shrugged “Now, now. Don’t look at me like that; I’m not the technician in charge of this machine; She’ll be in momentarily, I’ll be back when you’ve finished. I’ve got to arrange your transport to the specialist and prepare your room for the night.” With that you heard a door open and then close. And you heard Takao beside the bed almost laugh out a sigh “Really? It’s just waiting, and more waiting. We’re getting passed around so much, if I wasn’t messaging reports I don’t think I’d remember all of their names by the end of this. What do you think Tecchan?” You shook your head “Nn… We’ve probably seen less people than normal… But it’s still a lot.” Takao sighed and stretched “Really...And we’ve had quite a few… Interesting staff…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You could feel him rest his arms on the top of the lounge bed thing and sigh, he let out a yawn and smiled a bit “It’s still afternoon, but today feels like it has more hours than a normal day…” Nodding you murmured “That’s true… It’s agonizing” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even though only about seven or eight minutes passed, it felt like quite a while. Takao was running out of stories he could tell and the fatigue from everything was settling in… This floor wasn’t as ‘alive’ as the one above, no machines humming or constant movement of beds on wheels or anything could be heard it was almost silent. Even with Takao chittering away, the clock ticking was loud enough for both of you to hear. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>New high heels click clacking outside the room became noticeable and there was a gentle knock on the door before it opened “Kuroko Tetsuya-kun?” When you nodded she smiled “I’m Chi Anamiya. I’ll be in charge of your ultrasound.” You could hear her pulling gloves out of a box and walking over to the side of your bed with the machine and computer “How are you feeling? You must be exhausted travelling from Tokyo and getting passed around from person to person… Are you holding up alright?” Blinking you felt rather startled at the fact she was trying to converse “...I’m fine…” Takao chuckled softly behind you but didn’t say anything, however his chuckle seemed to have spared you, you could hear her turn her head; she must have rather long hair “Ah, Takao Kazunari-kun? ...Are you alright? That lip of yours looks quite painful. That should be sutured before it gets worse… The cold weather runs the risk of drying out your lips and that would give a split like that free reign to bleed… If you don’t mind after we’ve finished Kuroko-kun’s Ultrasound would you allow me to patch that up for you? I’ll give you a balm for it as well.” Takao was also thrown off balance by this nurse and he chuckled “I suppose there’s no harm, we have to wait for the ‘transport’ again anyway right… Honestly I wasn’t thinking about that at all, a cut like this would heal in no time.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dr. Anamiya began typing on the computer, she was probably making a request for the supplies she needed and opening a link to save the images she was going to scan. “You should never underestimate an injury Takao-kun… Although the cut may be shallow, the way it is it could easily worsen and with the bruising around it, even a small irritation could cause it to continuously bleed.” Takao was at a loss for words “...Right… Thank you very much for your concern then…” She smiled and nodded “I’ve sent a message to one of my coworkers to send a suture kit down, so that should be fine. Now Kuroko-kun, are you familiar with ultra-sounds at all?” Shaking your head all that you knew about this was what Takao had explained and little else. She nodded “Alright, that’s understandable. An ultrasound is similar to sonar detection that animals use. We use a small probe thats like a store scan gun over a medical gel and it allows us to see an image using the high frequency of sound. It’s specifically used for organs, we’ll be checking your eyes and brain. The gel is quite cold, so it will feel a bit unpleasant, and there is unfortunately a bit of pressure involved on areas with bone obstructions, so your bruise may cause you a bit of discomfort… I apologize, do you have any questions?” You frowned and heard Takao ask what was on your mind “Dr. Izaya mentioned some of that earlier, but is the gel going to be used on his eyes? Wouldn’t that be painful?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dr. Anamiya smiled and gave a soft laugh “Ah I apologize, that is a good question. No the gel won’t be applied around the eyes, I have a gel pad that I’ll be laying across Kuroko-kun’s eyes to scan over. We wouldn’t want to damage his eyes or cause pain so the extra layer is just a precaution really. It’s going to feel like a lighter colder version of the weighted blanket you had when you took your x-rays. Okay?” You nodded and she smiled “Shall we begin then?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You nodded and Dr. Anamiya pulled on a pair of gloves and gently applied the gel to your forehead and you shivered. It really was colder than expected, closing your eyes you shivered. It took awhile for the scan, you heard Dr. Anamiya call Takao over to look. She was explaining the image to him and you could hear him wince in your place as she neared the bruise. You took a slightly deeper breath and held it for a moment while she moved the probe over your temple. The breath came out as a cough from the pain, it was shooting down your face like tendrils of fire. You felt Takao take your hand in his and without realizing your hand curled into a little vice, refusing to let go. Takao bit his lip, Kuroko’s hand strength was nothing to be underestimated and if he wasn’t braced for it Takao was pretty sure he’d have been brought to his knees, not that he really minded. Dr. Anamiya glanced between the two and frowned “Sorry Kuroko-kun… This hurts a lot more than expected huh? We’re almost done… Can you bear with it for a moment?” You offered a stiff nod and swallowed, you could feel Takao gently stroking your hand with his thumb. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After the agony was over she gently placed the gel pad over your eyes, and continued the scan. You heard Takao inhale sharply and murmur “What… Is that?” Dr. Anamiya had a frown that translated into her voice “Hn… It seems this is why Dr. Johnson requested an ultrasound. They’re rare for head injuries like this, if I’m not mistaken that’s the cause for this request. It should be what Dr. Johnson is looking for… That seems like a pool of blood…” You felt Takao shiver, his hand squeezed yours a bit “Huh… Wouldn’t blood be noticable normally?” Dr Anamiya shook her head and finished the scan, removing the gel pad and gently wiping the gel away “You would expect that right? Where blood is so rich in color, however when it’s behind the eye itself unless there’s an abrasion or trigger the blood won’t be noticed… This is far from my area of expertise though, so unfortunately I cannot offer you more answers… Thankfully you’ll be seeing Dr. Johnson shortly. So he should be able to clear up this mystery.” Once she finished wiping the gel away she smiled “Sorry Kuroko-kun, you did wonderfully. We’re all done. You can take that cap off now. Oh my, Takao-kun your lip is bleeding again.” You released Takao’s hand and removed the cap frowning a bit, your head felt very heavy as if it were full of rocks from that pressure. Dr. Anamiya was like a wind storm she threw away her gloves and washed her hands “Takao-kun. Take a seat I’ll be right back with the suture kit, it should have been brought down to the nurse’s station.” Before he could even say anything she opened the door and disappeared earning a sigh from him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You looked in the direction of the sigh “Takao-kun…?” He gently touched your hand again and you could imagine a pained smile “Sorry Tecchan, I guess I bit my lip… This image… I hope they’ll show you later, it’s quite different from what you’d expect…” Silence took over the room for a bit and finally you asked “Does your lip hurt…?” Takao probably wasn’t expecting the sudden question and startled slightly “H-huh… Ah it’s a bit sore, I didn’t even realize it was bleeding again, but it should be fine…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before you could ask more, the click clacking resounded outside the door and it opened again, Takao was leaning against the side of your bed, probably nowhere else to really sit, or maybe he just planned to stay close. The doctor didn’t discourage him she merely sighed “Alright Takao-kun if you’re fine, please stay like that I’ll patch you up while you stand there then.” Your hand curled against Takao’s sleeve and his surprise showed on his face, startling Dr. Anamiya, but Takao just chuckled “Mm I don’t mind like this, since it’s not that bad you don’t need any crazy equipment” He slid down a bit, but brought his hand to yours reassuring you while he was the one getting his lip patched up. How crazy was today? Why were you getting reassured, you didn’t have a split lip that was bleeding… Aomine wasn’t weak so a punch that made that sort of sound… It’d be a miracle if Takao’s teeth weren’t aching… Frowning you made a mental note to ask Momoi later... Your eyes were slightly cold, you had to scold Aomine again. He didn’t think a lot of the time...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dr. Anamiya noticed your expression and she asked offhandedly while setting up her kit “So Takao-kun… You steal someone’s girlfriend or something? This looks like you took a hit straight to the mouth and yet from the looks of your hand you threw a punch?” Takao was startled and he laughed “Really? I thought it was healing up pretty nicely considering it’s been about a month that this all happened~ Do I seem the type to steal someone’s companion? I’m hurt. Some of our friends are suuuuuper protective of Kuroko~ So one of them didn’t like that I was looking after him, and I got chewed out… Since I seem too laid back I got hit, and I wasn’t about to get a tooth knocked loose because he had a screw loose so I returned the favor” Closing your eyes, you felt your face relax, you could almost see Takao’s mischievous smile as he sealed his story. Even Dr. Anamiya giggled “Really you’re quite reckless if that’s the case. You’re both athletes right? Both you and Kuroko-kun are well built, it must have took a lot of force to have you looking like this after a month… Are you really okay? I’m going to start the suture now.” Takao hummed assent and squeezed your hand lightly. Again Dr. Anamiya explained what she was doing for your sake, since you were clearly more anxious than Takao. The hawk was perched awkwardly almost in an air chair to keep you reassured and Dr. Anamiya was doing her best to hurry so the poor point guard could stand up right again.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once the stitches were finished she handed Takao a balm and smiled “There you go, try not to bite your lip again. And no kissing for about a week. Kay?” She giggled and started cleaning up “Once you’re ready I’ll bring you back to the waiting room. A transporter will be down for you two shortly.” You heard embarrassment in Takao’s tone “R-right. Tecchan are you okay to keep riding the chair? I know it must be driving you crazy, wanna walk around a bit in the waiting room, and to the bathroom to change your shirt after?” You nodded at his consideration, following his direction to get down, missing the step and getting caught in his embrace wasn’t part of your plan. You could hear Takao’s heart racing as he hugged you to his chest “Woah, got’cha. You okay Tecchan? That had to have startled you. Sorry I thought you were right on the step, I didn’t expect it to slide like that…” Your own heart was racing as you nodded and carefully put a little distance between you… The warmth of the hug was strange and reassuring, but also quite embarrassing for some reason. Takao seemed unphased as he checked you weren’t injured and helped you sit down and settle in, was he really not affected? Dr. Anamiya was watching the two of you and she shook her head “Hm~ Takao-kun are you alright? Your face is quite red, is it that the stitches hurt? Or are you embarrassed?” You heard him hiss softly behind you “Hm~ Embarrassed? I was just startled I wasn’t expecting that, of course my blood is rushing around like crazy” He evaded the subject with ease which did little to sate your curiosity. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> All this testing… All this curiosity, it was going to drive you insane… Patience was one of your strongest suits, and yet playing a waiting game like this… Takao really was your natural enemy. How was it you weren’t worried about the tests, the specialist or anything medical right now, but all the elusive topics that Takao was in the center of… This was strange and weird.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Finally Meeting the Specialist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was another twisting walk back to the waiting room, Takao set the bag down on one of the chairs and opened the bag rummaging for a button down shirt of his and a loose undershirt, before coming back to help you up “Shall we go for a walk Tecchan? A bathroom break, changing shirts and getting your blood flowing again.” You nodded getting up carefully “Nn, I’d like to call Momoi after if we have time… There was something I didn’t get the chance to talk with her about earlier…” Takao was confused but nodded “Roger that, then lets head over to the bathroom first, We can just walk around the waiting room and phone area; There aren’t many people down here, it’s pretty open.” He rummaged through the bag again before placing your phone in your left hand and linking his left with your right leading the way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You could tell it was a rather weaving path, but you didn’t mind too much. Takao was explaining where you were going, apparently there was a bathroom close to the waiting room, but it was out of service, so you were going towards the elevator and call area, he was gentle explaining the surroundings; the cold white tiled walls the plain walls painted green along the trim and hanging simple paintings like flowers and the like. There weren’t that many people at the moment probably because of the snow raging outside. It took a couple minutes to reach the bathroom, but Takao led you inside and guided you to the stall. It was weird to not be familiar with the bathroom, but once you got your bearings you nodded and Takao stepped out. Feeling the back of the door you found the jacket hooks and hung the new shirts there while you carefully removed the jacket and other shirts you had on. Your fingers brushed the necklace you were wearing and smiled a bit, you wondered what Momoi would say when you asked her what she meant earlier… Perhaps she could explain what Takao was hiding as well, or would it be best not to ask? Frowning you carefully pulled the undershirt on, it was slightly big on you; Takao probably intended it to be easy to remove if needed so he gave you one of his. It was weird having someone be so considerate, like an older brother? Maybe that was all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After changing and using the bathroom, you carefully picked up your shirt from the door hook before heading out of the stall. Takao’s voice guided you down the little path to the sinks and you found them without his physical guidance; it sounded like he joined you and he turned on the sink near you before turning on another, his voice was like a gps you found the soap dispensary under his guidance and he chuckled “Seems like I’m getting used to giving directions like this~ When we first started I wasn’t precise enough and we were having a ton of issues huh… I’m glad I got better so quickly, after all it’d be awful if you were under awful directions up until you got better!” You chuckled and nodded “You really were awful at first Takao-kun…” You could hear him fluster and laugh as the water turned off, he guided you to the paper towel taking his own after you, and he threw them both away taking the shirts from you “Shall we go to the call area then, want me to wait outside? Momo-chan is probably going to be over the moon to have you call her~” You tilted your head and nodded “Just about 5 minutes,  that should be long enough” He gently patted your head and smiled “You got it Tecchan~ I’ll run and put this back in the bag and come straight back, and it’ll be roughly that long. Sound good?” You nodded assent and he brought you to the phone area, he guided you to the back where it was safe to walk around and there were some chairs if you decided to sit. “Well then Tecchan, I’ll be right back!” He closed the door behind him and you took your phone out of his jacket pocket.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Momoi-san had her number saved on speed dial, so you held the ‘9’ key and waited. After a moment you heard the ringing and lifted the phone to your ear. A startled, excited voice answered “Tetsu-kun?! Are you okay? Did you miss me that much? I should have told Imayoshi-senpai I’d stay with you and Takkun!” You blinked and chuckled, just like usual Momoi was good at blowing away your worries, similar to how Takao or Kise could. You sighed softly “I’m glad you got back to the hotel safely Momoi-san… I just had something on my mind is all…” You could hear the confusion in her moment of silence “Tetsu-kun? Did Takkun do something to bother you?” You could hear her close a door behind her, she’d stepped away from whatever she was doing and was getting into her ‘serious’ mode. You closed your eyes lowering your head although she couldn’t see you, a frown appeared on your lips “Not quite… It’s just something you said earlier, combined with how hard he was hiding his injury;  I was confused… How bad was Takao-kun’s lip? The doctor we just saw treated it, apparently he made it bleed…” You heard her gasp and frown “That damn ganguro… I’m going to scold him again… Hm.. Aomine has a lot of strength you know Tetsu-kun… From what he said, he didn’t hold back at all when he punched at Takkun, but Takkun stepped back to lighten the impact…. Even so the force of his mouth getting hit by Aomine’s fist… And his lip pinching against his teeth it wasn’t nothing… His lip and chin were bruised and the middle of his bottom lip was split like a gash… It’s like something you’d see in a contact sport, not on a basketball player. If he made it bleed he had to have bitten it at some point, he is trying his hardest not to worry you Tetsu-kun so be sure to scold him if he makes you stress out over stuff like this!” You chuckled “Mm… I’m not really ‘stressed’ I’ll be meeting with the specialist in a while and they might operate so I’m a bit concerned about that… But Takao-kun is being really supportive… I think he might be more concerned than I am…” Momoi was startled hearing your offhanded praise and was startled when you asked “Momoi-chan… What did you mean earlier when you told Takao-kun that you would ‘support him’?” She flustered a bit “Y-you heard that Tetsu-kun? Oh uhm… It’s just Takkun really is doing his best, I don’t want to lose to him… It’s kind of hard to explain, I just… It’s amazing how Takkun is handling this, he probably blames himself the most for not saying something a little sooner, just like you normally don’t miss things like these, if he hadn’t missed the timing he feels like it would be different… He really treasures you Tetsu-kun, and I think there’s something he really wanted to say to you if he played well in your next match? So I was supporting his wishes so we get you back and he can finally say what he wanted to…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You tilted your head and murmured “He did say he had something he wanted to say… He absolutely won’t say it before the surgery… I wonder what it was?” Momoi giggled and you could hear her kind smile “Make a fast recover Tetsu-kun and then you’ll find out~ I have to get back to a meeting with the captain~ Call me again later okay Tetsu-kun? I love you!! Good luck!” She hung up in a flash before you could even say goodbye. You sighed and phoned your grandmother, letting her know you were okay and just doing a bunch of tests so far. You told her you’d be staying in Kangawa for a little while and that because of the snow you’d be spending the night at the hospital so you probably wouldn’t be charged for the hotel accommodation for tonight. She said she heard from Takao this morning, but she was happy to hear your voice, she wanted you to stop by once you were better to spend time together. The call was short, you disconnected and powered off your phone. Slowly walking around in little circles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A minute passed and Takao knocked on the door before coming in “Tecchan~ Are you done?” You chuckled, really he was too considerate “Mm, Momoi-chan was in a meeting so she couldn’t talk for long; and my grandmother was getting ready to rest so I finished quickly. Thank you Takao-kun” You felt him fluster and he chuckled “It’s nothing Tecchan, shall we head back?” Carefully you nodded then walked over to him, and he took your hand again. “Alright, the transport should be down to get us soon. I wonder what Dr. Johnson is going to be like in the end… If he could order extra testing without even meeting you, he must really be worth the reputation he has~” You blinked, having not considered that you nodded “Maybe this really is all almost over?” Takao hummed and said “It’ll be lonely not having you living with us anymore, but I hope it is over soon~ You need to recover and accomplish your goal~”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The walk back to the waiting room felt shorter and somehow awkward, as he helped you settle back into the wheelchair and put your phone back in the bag and reported he texted updates to the seniors. The seniors included the ‘guardians of the rainbow’ Mayuzumi-senpai, Himuro-san, Kasamatsu-senpai, Imayoshi-senpai, Miyaji-senpai and Hyuuga-senpai were his initial contacts. Though he also had contact numbers for Mibuchi-senpai, Kiyoshi-senpai, Izuki-senpai, Momoi-san, Kise-kun, Sakurai-san, Midorima-kun and Murasakibara-kun according to his report a while back, you wondered when he got so close to everyone to get their numbers. Not that it really mattered, he had recorded his number in your phone as well so you had it in case you needed him when he wasn’t by your side. He was saved under speed dial 10. Frowning a bit your hands curled around the blanket and Takao asked “Hm~ You okay Tecchan? Whats on your mind?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blinking you sighed “Nn… It’s nothing, I’m sure I’ll hear about it later.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before he could answer you, a bored voice called out “Kuroko Tetsuya-kun, Takao Kazunari-kun? Ah there you two are. I’m Mizuki Oe, I’ll be the last transport for you two today. We’re off to see Dr. Johnson on the upper floors. After your consultation, I’ll be bringing you to set your things down in your assigned room. We’ll be moving ahead with the procedures after dinner, all the staff for the planned operation are here on site, and as it’s dangerous to leave, we’ll move forward today instead of tomorrow; As we’re expecting a lot of emergency cases tomorrow due to the severity of this storm.” The two of you were rather dumbstruck at the bored voice saying that they would operate tonight as if he were asking for someone to pass a seasoning. Takao sighed softly “You must be exhausted Oe-san… Thank you for telling us, we’ll be sure to prepare after the meeting with Dr. Johnson… We’ll be in your care…” You nodded, and heard Oe-san walk over behind you, Takao patted your shoulder and you heard him pick up the bag “Ready Tecchan? Seems we really are entering the final quarter already” You couldn’t help but chuckle at his awful attempt at a joke “I think even Izuki-senpai would hesitate to say something like that Takao-kun?” As the chair began to move Takao playfully hummed “He wouldn’t risk it, he gets carded too often by your captain y’know. I could tip him off though~” You couldn’t help but wonder how it was that this hawk was coming up with so many puns on the fly, but you were almost afraid to ask “Did you steal one of Izuki-senpai’s joke books?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao coughed “What he has joke books? No way~ I fly solo, I either remember my jokes or come up with them off the wing” You heard Oe sigh as he realized and asked “...You two… Are basketball players?” You nodded ascent “Yes.” Oe hit the call button leading you both into the elevator “I see… Though how exactly did you two end up like this then? A frontal lobe injury with enough force to cause retinal damages is one thing with your height… But that lip injury… That looks like a rugby or x-league injury…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You both sighed and Takao chirped up “Well Kuroko’s injury was from a practice match… An elbow made contact with his head at a pretty fast pace… Mine was from off the court… Tecchan is one of the players from Teiko’s Generation of Miracles, if you’ve heard of it… And so the other Miracles who stood at the forefront are craaaaaazy protective of him… One of them ended up punching me to let out their frustrations and even doing my best to lessen the blow it ended up like this…. We have a lot of muscle to play basketball like we do after all. I’m no match for an ace throwing a punch aimed to hurt...” Oe-san blinked hearing the explanation and nodded “I see… Kiseki no Sedai? I think there was something in the papers about that when the school session started this year no? That one of them came to Kaijou High School?” Takao hummed “Yup~ Kise Ryouta enrolled at Kaijo, he was one of the six miraculous players, and one of the five prodigies.” Oe didn’t hide his confusion “Six players, but five prodigies?” Takao chuckled and nodded “Correct Kuroko isn’t one of the ‘prodigies’ his talent was something practiced and honed, he was the ‘Phantom Sixth Man’ of that team, his lack of presence is the reason he’s in a wheelchair, nothing else~ Because a wheelchair draws attention, which Kuroko naturally avoids after his years of practice. Think of it like a magic trick~ Even when you’re watching suuuuuper closely they make things disappear right? It’s like that, Kuroko uses ‘magic’ on the court but disappears from everyone’s mind since he’s not the one scoring~” Oe blinked and nodded “I see… That sounds like a sad life for an athlete, but it makes perfect sense…” You felt your face get a bit warm, Takao had praised your ability so easily and explained it so well that Oe-san was being supportive… To a non-athlete explaining the role of a phantom player was normally no easy feat, yet Takao seemed to be glib enough to manage. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> The elevator sounded as the doors slid open, you’d arrived on the upper floor where the specialist was waiting. Sighing softly Takao murmured descriptions as you walked, you could imagine him crossing his arms behind his head as he took in the floor and shifting them to his pockets when you came across other people, a natural cool kid persona. You chuckled and took a breath, Oe-san knocked on a door bringing you to a stop, you heard Takao turn on his heel waiting patiently as well. His hand found your forearm and patted it reassuringly, you let out a breath you hadn’t realized you drew and a voice inside called out “Ah Oe-san? Come in.” You heard the door click open and your chair entered the room. You heard Takao follow and close the door, he took a seat beside you and casually placed his hand over yours and smiled “Pleasure to meet you Dr. Johnson.” You lowered your head slightly in a bow as Takao greeted him and the doctor chuckled “Hm… I think I can understand all the annoying notes on this file now.” You heard Oe-san laugh softly and nod “Yes… This pair of students have quite a bit of character. This is Kuroko Tetsuya and that one is Takao Kazunari. The staff seem to have a knack for finding the wrong things to say, they’re both good kids. But if something is going to be too risky, there’s no second chances.” His voice was more amused than bored this time around and Takao sighed softly “I almost don’t want to guess what everyone has said so far… I get that everyone is having a rough time because of the weather~ But taking it out on the high school kids from Tokyo isn’t really the right way to go about it~ Sorry if you had false expectations Dr. Johnson~”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The answering voice was elegant, and quite authorative; You couldn’t help but imagine someone similar to Akashi was sitting across the desk from you. “Well it is to be expected, you hopefully shouldn’t be dealing with any more short tempers. The team we’ll be working with tonight will be well rested and mistakes are a non-issue. That being the case shall I begin the explanation of your condition and the recommended treatment Kuroko-kun, Takao-kun? There are quite a few images, I’ll do my best to explain; feel free to interrupt me if you’ve got questions or don’t understand. This isn’t school, this is your body Kuroko-kun, I want you to be comfortable with what is going to happen so you don’t get anxious.” You nodded and Takao squeezed your hand, you could hear his grin as he answered “No worries there Doctor, Kuroko has been saying I’m more anxious than he is, his mind is set on recovery; So understanding what’s going to make him better is just like an ‘I told you it was no big deal’ kinda~” You covered your mouth with your free hand to chuckle and the doctor merely said “Well then, that’s ideal.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You heard the rustling of paper, and plastics. The explanation began “Alright first allow me to explain the testing and the results we received. I’m certain you felt that was an excessive amount of tests. First you went through the blood testing; As you’re aware it was primarily to test for substances that could pose potential problems during the procedures. However the second reason which was noted to not have been explained was to test for genetic concerns. Where you’re so young Kuroko-kun, you haven’t needed extensive genetic testing yet, however running blood tests allows us to know of issues that could arise due to your unique genetic make-up. For instance there are rare genes that can cause blindness if the wrong drug is applied, even if the dosage is correct. So to ensure that you have no additional risk factors against the general anesthesia, or undeclared illnesses like a strain of cancer or the like we perform thorough blood work, which is why they took so much. The lab took a bit of extra time to process, thankfully this facility recently got the equipment to run the tests on site, or we would be in a bit of a pickle. Despite that, the results were promising, there will be no complications and there were no anomalies that would cause us to rethink our action plan.” The doctor paused and both you and Takao simply nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Next you went through the CT or CAT scans. It is a unique test similar to an xray that takes cross-sectional images of your brain. It’s ideal in your situation, it helps us locate and identify any hemorrhaging or the like. The results from this alone were sadly inconclusive which is why it was partnered with an MRI, they two are used to detect similar things; However even it’s name explains the differences a Magnetic Resonance Image. It scans the soft tissues of the brain unlike a CT scan, and it allows us to detect things like minute brain tumors, softening from traumatic injuries, even things like developmental anomalies, multiple sclerosis, stroke, dementia, infection, and the causes of headache. The brain is a very fragile organ and it essentially controls whom we are as a human. The MRI was able to disprove the original fears of brain damage. Although it is fact that you were faced with extreme blunt trauma to the frontal lobe, this did not cause internal bleeding. Although there is a chance of bruising that is not life threatening. It would merely prove unpleasant. That was not was the important factor though.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Through the MRI we were able to identify there was indeed bleeding and it became an immediate flag, we needed to find that source. So the next two tests were issued. Now I’m sure having heard what a CT scan is in essence made you question why I ordered x-rays? Although they use similar technology, an x-ray itself is primarily used for bone; while a CT scan is more able to read the smaller details of muscles. We needed to see if the bleeding was from a fracture to the skull or something similar. Although there was a small chip, there was nothing to be alarmed of with the xrays. We did see the area the blood was hemorrhaging was around the eye sockets which gave the Ultrasound technician an indication of how to proceed. An ultrasound is by far the cleanest test you underwent, it uses high frequency like sonar to detect the muscles, organs and internal things we can easily miss. It’s used primarily for pregnancies or organ damages. Using this imaging method we triple checked for any brain damage and also located the key problem.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The entire time he was speaking he was pressing on images, likely showing them to Oe-san and Takao-kun, forgetting you couldn’t see them. Takao’s hand was a gentle vice around yours, you were almost certain even if you tried to move your hand it wouldn’t escape his. You carefully turned your hand over and gave a light squeeze in return reassuring your worried caretaker. There was no brain damage, that was reassuring to hear. Then where did the issue come?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The cause of the issue, the bleeding and the blindness is retinal detachment. In this case  Exudative retinal detachment, this occurs when happens when fluid builds up behind your retina, but there aren’t any tears or breaks in your retina. If enough fluid gets trapped behind your retina, it can push your retina away from the back of your eye and cause it to detach. There are quite a few options for recovery, however time is of the essence when dealing with detachment. The issue lies with the fact that you managed to suffer a double detachment, treatments are generally for one eye at a time. Due to the pressing issue of time, if you’re willing; I will perform a new procedure; It has been tested and approved overseas, however it is still not common practice on the eastern seaboards. The procedure can be used on both eyes without needing a break.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Both you and Takao drew a breath as you tightened your grips and listened intently. This was not going to be a ‘light’ decision. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My proposed operation is similar to a vitrectomy. A traditional vitrectomy the surgeon will make very small openings in your eye wall and remove most of the vitreous from your eye with a suction tool. Then either use a gas bubble, or laser to treat the detachment. What I’m proposing is, using a tool to drain the blood from behind the eye. We’ll then use a method similar to pneumatic retinopexy. Using a specialized tool we’ll hook behind the eye and essentially freeze the retina back into place. The risks of this are significantly less than using the buckle method which would leave a band permanently on your eye. And considering it’s blood and not vitreous fluid it’s a poor idea to use a gas bubble or laser based operation because the retina is only being held out of place by the blood hemorrhaging behind your eyes. The procedure would be simple only taking an hour at absolute longest; to drain and connect. You would be under general anesthesia the entire time, we need you to be still for the procedure so that’s a given. As you’re already enlisted to stay over night you would have no worry about after effects, and by the time you get discharged in the afternoon, your vision should be back to normal. In the morning after you first wake it will be a bit blurry as you adapt and your body normalises the crypto connection; it would naturally lessen the chemicals there if needed and you might be a bit teary early on. Although you would need to get a check up in two weeks before returning to your sport or any strenuous activity. So it would be advised to remain in Takao-kun’s care unless your parents return in the meantime?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nodding the two of you frowned and Takao asked “Hmm what do you think Tecchan?” You sighed softly, honestly your head was swimming. You were silent for a bit as your mind raced, you were aware that Takao had obviously studied to the point he was this exhausted today and so you asked him questions quietly. He seemed to understand this more, so asking simple questions he answered. Back and forth neither Oe-san nor Dr. Johnson interrupted, your conversation was soft and it was unlikely either could hear the full thing. At least ten minutes passed before you had your resolve, you turned your face back towards Dr. Johnson and said “I would like to go with your proposal… It seems less detrimental…” Takao smiled and ran his thumb over the back of your hand. This little shadow was the strongest of the rainbow squad even if he wasn’t a prodigy and that assessment would never change. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dr. Johnson smiled “I’m glad to hear that Kuroko-kun. Oe-san will bring you to your room on the sixth floor for now, please order dinner and try to get some rest, if you’re groggy the general anesthesia will be more fast-acting. Your room will be in a safe zone, so you don’t have to worry about texting in the room; though I still advise stepping out for phone calls. We’ll begin the procedure in two hours.” You both nodded and Takao gently withdrew his hand and rose “Thank you Dr. Johnson; We’ll be in your care then.” He seemed to wave and Oe-san guided your chair out of the room. Oe-san spoke his surprise evident as he called the elevator “You two really are unique among high school students. You didn’t need to ask many questions; Are you honor students?” Takao chuckled and hummed “We’re both average~ Well on studied subjects or things that matter I’m generally able to remember things. I wanted to be able to do everything I could; since I took a short leave I’ve been researching so I knew best how to help Tecchan~ Like I said his friends are scary~ So I have to do more than expected for it to feel like enough. I happened to see a medical post about cranial injuries causing retinal detachment by chance so I read it anyway and so I was aware of the normal treatments, and I even watched some videos on it” You could feel him shiver, you didn’t want to imagine how unpleasant it would be to watch someone getting needles stuck in their eye, or seeing blood or a thick fluid flowing out. You felt queasy imagining it and thankfully the elevator doors opened and accepted the three of you.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oe-san his the button and the clank of the door shutting seal that conversation with a chuckle “Well you certainly deserve praise for going so above and beyond Takao-kun you’re like the older brother everyone needs.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao chuckled and shook his head “I really didn’t do much though. At this point I’m just like a reassuring ghost~ I can only offer support” Oe-san blinked “Whatever is wrong with that? Without support the whole procedure can be a lot more intimidating you know?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao chuckled softly and smiled “Hm? I just don’t see how staying by someone’s side is praise worthy? Isn’t it natural if you have the ability to keep someone close to you from being alone when they need someone by their side?” You chuckled that was indeed Takao logic that no one would be able to argue easily. Oe-san was caught off guard and couldn’t resist the urge to laugh “Oh you have infallible logic don’t you Takao-kun? Your girlfriend must never know how to handle you.” Blinking he shrugged and you sighed “I doubt even his teammates know how to handle him” You heard Takao snicker “Hm~ It’s true, my pineapple photo collection reflects that.” You sighed and shook your head helplessly “I think I’d like to see that collection, your seniors are truly… Fascinating” Takao laughed happily hopping out of the elevator when the door opened “Mm, Miyaji-senpai and Kimura-senpai work well to make sure we really feel their wrath~ I don’t recommend playing dodge the pineapple though~”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You felt the chair moving forward and Oe-san finally interjected “...Pineapple?” Takao laughed and hummed “Well you see~ One of my seniors is from a family that runs a fruit store; And because of our generation of freshman a lot of schools have put first years on the rosters for the first string. We’ve beaten out a bunch of seniors and overthrown the hierarchy so to speak. So one of my seniors who has a short temper has taken to throwing the green pineapples that my other senior’s family can’t sell at me and the other first year whenever we get ‘out of hand’ because we’re too cocky.” You could almost see Takao with a hand behind his neck grinning like a fool pretending it was no big deal as he laughed it off “See my school, Shuutoku, has a loooot of upperclassmen and the fact that two first years made it to the first string is unheard of, but for victory we have to get into shape faster and so the ‘abuses’ are a different kind of guidance~ So I started an album of pineapples, I’d use them as props or dress them up or whatever for fun~ Since they’re trash anyway might as well keep a record of how many of those prickly weapons I face~ Fun right?” Oe-san was once again at a loss, you could imagine him slightly gaping, it wasn’t normal to think of abuse so lightly… And since Takao was actually talking about being hit by physical fruit that caused injuries so lightly, anyone would normally be startled, and concerned for his well being. Takao obviously knew this and smiled his voice took on a cool serious tone and he seemed slightly distant as he said “It’s not like I don’t understand my seniors feelings. They don’t know how to treat us and we have to work really hard… So if they don’t keep some distance between us… They’re afraid that it might become them that get left behind… See my fellow first year is suuuper scary good and none of us want to be a burden for him. The only reason he gets hit with flying fruit is usually his wishy-washy personality~ He’s such a tsundere.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You couldn’t help but chuckle that seemed reasonable, Midorima’s personality was hard to deal with so pineapple therapy might be a good thing at least to level it out. You felt your chair go over a bump and then Oe-san sighed “Alright.. I’ll take your word for it that it’s not as bad as it sounds. I’ll be leaving you two here then, I’ll see you tonight to escort you for the procedure. Please use the room phone to call down to the kitchen, they’ll have a runner bring up your meals.” You could hear him bow saying “Well then, rest up.” And the door slid shut behind him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao explained the layout of the room, apparently it was a room that could house two, you’d be in the bed by the window. There was a dresser and table that could wheel over the bed. The bed had a section that pulled out to allow an overnight guest to sleep there. You didn’t have a roommate, there was a call button and normal set up of vital readers on the wall behind the bed. There was no television or the like in the room. The curtains were apparently open and the snow was so thick that he couldn’t see from where you two were. He carefully helped you up and guided you to the bed, and then plugged your phone and his in to charge before stowing the dufflebag into the dresser. And picking up and reading the menu off the table, reading it to you; they had very healthy foods and it was primarily soups, rice dishes or fish dishes. You both decided it was probably best to stick to soup so Takao called down the order and chuckled afterwards “After I update your grandmother and our seniors would you like to do some light exercise? There’s plenty of space at the end of the beds by the bathroom so there’s no risk of bumping into anything. Or we can skip today~ I just can’t imagine how stiff you are from being stuck in that wheelchair for so many hours…. Since we left Tokyo, it’s been over ten hours I think…” You could imagine him looking around for a clock and then heard him sigh “I was off by a bit it’s already almost eleven and a half hours we’ve been here for an entire school session now~ Kinda weird to think about in that sense”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You could hear him by the window typing out a message, probably exactly what the doctors said. The type of surgery, the anesthesia factor, the ‘down time’ or recovery time and such. You shivered instinctively hearing the wind slam against the windows, it must be a nightmare outside. You were relieved that hospitals had backup generators, there wouldn’t be any risk of issues due to lapses of power with a generation like that set up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao announced “And sent~” Not even three minutes later you heard his phone ringing and he paled a bit as he sighed “And… Sei-chan…” Reluctantly he answered and you could hear Takao sighing as the voice by his ear interrogated him, the hawk answered as detailed as he could on the procedure, the anesthesia, the conditions of the hospital, the success rate. Things that were discussed in the meeting, things he saw that you hadn’t, the testing you had undergone. Akashi seemed to be draining all the information out of Takao, finally he asked a question in return “Sei-chan, aren’t you in a meeting right now? Is this really the best time for you to be playing 1000 questions? I’ve told you what I know, my opinion, the statistics that I happened to have looked up before we came, the risks of the other types of operation… I’m not writing you a book report you know? I still have other calls to make, and I’m still with Tecchan, I know you’re just as desperate for Kuroko’s recovery as us… Just have faith. They’ll be performing tonight. You’ll hear from me again, either through Chi-chan or directly, depending on how much time I have to send messages.” There was another fit of sighing and he said “Don’t put other lives in jeopardy. Do you see how bad this storm is with your phenomenal eyesight? Relax, wait until the storm ends… I’m hanging up” And he hung up, you could hear a muffled voice trying to yell to stop him but the call cut. “....Sei-chan… is really something else….”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m calling your grandmother and then my attention is all yours again Tecchan~” You could hear the number tones as he dialed and you waited, wondering if after tonight you would be free from this darkness again. Did that mean you’d be leaving Takao soon? You idly wondered if that was going to make the hawk lonely, since you two had been practically inseparable recently… Even though it’d only been a couple weeks… You two would be together for the remainder of the month if your parents didn’t return, and it was unlikely they would. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao’s phone call with your grandmother was quick; There wasn’t much to update. She asked him to call with the results whenever that might be she’d wait by the phone.  You smiled a bit, it felt bad to think you were worrying her to such an extent. She was generally the ‘early to bed, early to rise’ type so for her waiting for a call when she wouldn’t bother with holiday nights or anything was rare.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Your heart felt heavy and your hands balled a bit, Takao ended the call and he turned. For a moment you couldn’t but wonder what happened. Yet soon you felt his weight beside you and he gently petted your hair again “Tecchan… You don’t have to worry. We’re all waiting for the results because we all care. No matter what weather separates us, how many miles. Near or far, we’re all waiting with you. You’re the one who has to go in, but all of us are waiting on pins and needles. It’s our holiday wish for you to recover. So no matter what happens. All of us will be waiting. You’ll still be under the anesthesia when I’m making the calls, but I’ll be by your side when you come to. Granted I know I’m not the first thing you’d wanna see when you open your eyes again.” He laughed at himself and hummed ruffling your hair lightly “So let us worry, let us wait. Because all that energy is going to be with you while they work! And now~” You felt the weight on the bed leave and heard him land on the floor. At the same time a faint knock came from outside the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sometimes his senses were eerie, not that you were one to talk. A nurse from the kitchens came in with your trays she set them down for the two of you and excused herself. Takao set you up for your meal and set his aside, he chattered like a bird. Telling you how much snow he could see, about the room, about the flood of texts of well wishes from the rainbow. He just talked about random things. After you ate, you felt fatigue creeping up and frowned ever so slightly. Takao didn’t fail to notice moving your tray away “Resting now wouldn’t be a bad thing; Don’t they normally say being groggy for anesthesia makes it effective faster? Dunno if that’s true or not but, if you’re tired just rest.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Takao chattered about superficial things while you rested. Things like his hobbies, random stories about small snowland creatures he’d watched videos of, just small things. When you finally drifted off you had a dreamless sleep, but it felt like everything was going darker and blacker and it was horrifying, but there was warmth from one of your hands that kept you anchored.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Procedure</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was only about an hour before the procedure, taking a breath Takao smiled sadly looking at Kuroko, he was sleeping so peacefully it was soothing. Takao’s  left hand was trapped in his right, and in his other hand he held his phone which was tethered to the wall. He sent out an update to the ‘caretakers’ they were the ones who would break the news. Himuro from Yosen, Kiyoshi from Seirin, Mayuzumi from Rakuzan, Imayoshi  from Touou, Miyaji from Shuutoku, Kasamatsu from Kaijou. Each member was a core of  their respected teams, it was quite the  assortment, even Takao  could only helplessly shake his head. The amount of captains in his contacts was surreal, other than the ‘emergency group’ and the ‘rainbow squad’ including Kagami and Momoi he had the  ‘back up crew’ in case the original care crew were busy. Susa from Touou, and Sakurai if needed. From Kaijou it was Yoshitaka or Shinya. For Rakuzan it was the second closest to the hawk, Mibuchi and the ever playful Hayama. Yosen only had Fukui who conversed with Takao other than their aces, so he’d ended up with Coach Masako’s number  as well.  Seirin had the coach, captain and point guard. As for Shuutoku he was pretty sure a pineapple would have his name if he didn’t have all the core contacts.  He typed a message to the care crew, simply.</p>
<p>	‘If anything goes wrong. I will call you before reaching out to anyone else.  In regards to your teams, you’ll be best suited to relay the news and keep the miracles from panicking. Praying that nothing goes wrong, I’ll send out a mass text instead of individual calls to spread the news fastest. If I call, I may not be in the best state myself, but I will do my best to not cause panic. I will be counting on you on the off chance to keep  them from rushing out in this storm. We’ll be heading down shortly; I will have my phone on airplane mode to avoid any potential issues. Please keep  yours nearby in case something happens.’  That text reached the various aces, captains and cores. From location to location each had a different reaction. Miyaji was frowning at his hawkling’s pessimism. Mayuzumi looked indifferent but he altered his phone to have a violent response should any contact come from Takao  considering the obvious unease. Kiyoshi and Himuro frowned at their phones, neither very close with Takao, but both were familiar with his ‘sunny persona’  and this didn’t fit; he was bracing himself for whatever and giving warning. Imayoshi and Kasamtsu were in a  meeting together, they exchanged a look and said nothing. The procedure was a revolutionary thing; there should be a small margin for error. So where was this uneasiness coming from? </p>
<p>Silence. Nothing seemed to be making a sound, the stillness was feeding into eeriness and that was causing the over tired hawkling to jitter, he couldn’t hear the sound of the ticking clock, the howling of the storm, everything was silent as if he’d entered the eye of a hurricane. Kuroko’s steady breathing and the hum of Takao’s phone charger were soft and almost not audible, and yet those were the first sounds that he recognized. Closing his eyes he took a breath, slowly counting to ten, attempting to ground himself, he couldn’t get his feathers ruffled with hypotheticals or this would never end. It wasn’t an easy feat not even if  it was ideal. Takao refused to be the uneasy that translated over, he wouldn’t unsettle Kuroko no matter how much effort that took.</p>
<p>The countdown was an insane battleground for the bird as he was being preyed on by uneasiness and everything from the concept to the horoscopes were causing a destructive wave of nerves to assault; incident after incident and scenario after hypothetical scenario played out and no matter how hard he tried it was an endless cycle. Putting down his phone Takao wrapped Kuroko’s hand in both of his almost in a prayer and closed his eyes. The darkness overtook him as he clung onto the warmth, although Kuroko’s palms were warm his fingers were cold. Leaning forward Takao pressed the cold fingers against his forehead, sacrificing his warmth to warm up the shadow in front of him. The sounds of the storm were violently whooshing outside, there were muffled sirens in the distance, some crashing and shaking glass. A gust seemed to pulse through the gaps in the sealed window to his back, lashing an icy wind against him causing him to shiver as he shielded Kuroko more his silvery eyes darkened. He wasn’t sure why it was that he felt uneasy, he had barely been able to touch his soup and left it untouched, a contrast to Kuroko’s bowl which was nearly emptied despite his tiredness. </p>
<p>Taking a breath you leaned forward, unknowingly falling asleep at his bedside. The sound of knocking roused you, and groggily you called “Tecchan, it’s time to wake up.” He could feel the hand trapped within his move slightly as Kuroko slowly opened his eyes. Takao rubbed his eyes and looked up as Oe walked in, he looked at the two of you and smiled “Kuroko-kun would you like to use the restroom before we head downstairs?” Kuroko blearily nodded and Takao chuckled helping Kuroko up “Your wish is my command Tecchan, this way then~” With a forced smile he bounced back to his normal persona before fluttering around, giving his normal description of where they were walking. Kuroko entered the stall and frowned where Takao couldn’t see him wondering why the point guard seemed sad? After finishing up Kuroko trained his expression back to nothingness and exited the stall following the gps like directions to the sink and the paper towels. Oe was waiting in the room for you both and asked “Alright Kuroko-kun, if you’re prepared I’ll be bringing you two down to the lowest level. Takao-kun you’ll want a jacket, it gets quite cold down there even with the regulated temperature.” After settling Kuroko into the wheelchair Takao pulled his sports jacket out of the duffle bag and put it on over the hoodie he already had on, pocketing his cellphone, leaving the charger with the bag under the window.</p>
<p>With such preparations Oe smiled “Well, that’s quite the vibrant jacket; Are you a fan of orange?” Kuroko seemed to laugh a little imagining the hawk in orange likely with a white hoodie under it making it more painful against the violent blizzard outside the windows behind him, somehow it suited him with a mental pout he seemed to want to see it. Takao noticed the chuckle and grinned “Hm~ A fan huh? Well it’s something I’ve adapted to at least. So I’ve fixed my wardrobe to match it, since school athletes need to support their colors no? When I first got this jacket I was actually wearing a blue hoodie… Total mismatch~ So now I’ve got to stick to white like this, gray or black~ I have to say I don’t dislike orange, but I prefer more shadowy colors.” Oe missed the flirtatious tone change and continued the conversation as Takao returned to your side, murmuring as Oe pushed the chair and the conversation onwards “Ah you mean like cool colors? I can imagine those don’t pair well with Orange; it's a much more vibrant color huh?” Chuckling Takao nodded and pressed the call button to the elevator for Oe “Mm, orange is much brighter than expected.” That conversation was short lived and Oe asked “How are you feeling Kuroko-kun?” Tilting his head slightly “Hm… Curious? I want to know if this is going to work.” Takao nodded hopping into the elevator into the corner after Oe wheeled in Kuroko and pressed the button, with a chirpy voice he said “You’ll have the best doctor performing the surgery~ Of course it will work~” Kuroko muttered “I’m also curious if you’ll tell me after?” However his voice was too low and no one heard him over the elevator floor change ping, Takao who saw your lips moved leaned down though and said “What was that Tecchan?” To which he shook his head silently.</p>
<p>From floor six to the lower level, seven small bings and the doors opened. The air was chillier than the first floor where triage and the scans were done. Snow was packed against the windows entirely, the floor seemed to be half underground. Takao’s descriptions began, unlike the upper floors the tiling was primarily a cool slate color with white slats now and then, the walls were offwhite with traditional art now and then, the halls were long with very few doors along them. It was like a catacomb of halls leading different directions. There were several turns before you reached the operation room. The hallway leading to it had a few cushioned benches about six feet apart from each other with the room at the end of the wide hallway. At the opposite side there was a hallway leading to a vending machine with signs pointing to the cafeteria which was back towards the elevator in the opposite direction. Other than the whirr of electricity and the soft hum of lights this floor was lifeless. At the bench Oe-san said “Takao-kun, this is as far as you can go. This area is restrictive for cellphones, however at the very end where the vending machines are, that waiting area is clear for you to use your phone outside of airplane mode.” A light touch brushed Kuroko’s hair and Takao seemed to grin “Well Tecchan, the court is yours. I’ll be waiting for you!” Thinking for a moment Kuroko held out a fist and Takao was stunned for 3 seconds before returning the fistbump, once their knuckles met Kuroko said “I’ll be back… Don’t be worried” </p>
<p>Even Oe was caught off guard as he looked between the two, Takao’s face clearly showed he was baffled, and even so he laughed “Right back at you Tecchan, take it easy~ He’s all yours Oe-san” As soon as Takao said ‘back at you’ Kuroko simply nodded and his voice lapped with Takao’s “I’ll be in your care Oe-san” Oe blinked several times and sighed “Right, we’re on our way then Kuroko-kun.” Swiping his ID against a panel he opened the secure green door and pushed the wheelchair through. After a moment the doors swung shut behind them closing off Takao from the world inside. </p>
<p>Outside Takao’s expression melted away, the smile vanished. He stood facing the door, watching until it closed, the last thing he saw was the doctor and the nurses prepping tools and Oe helping Kuroko gown. Takao stayed rooted to the spot until the light blinked on. Once the ‘Operation in Progress’ light lit, he walked to the vending machine, finding a spot he could see that light and swiftly changed his phone from airplane mode. He sent out the message ‘Kuroko is beginning the operation now. I’ll be in touch.’ Short, sweet and simple. He messaged the ‘Core crew’ just that again and then sent a message to Midorima ‘Shin-chan… Tecchan is really amazing isn’t he?’ He hesitated a moment before he sent it, he had no doubt that his partner on the court figured out his feelings a while ago, the tsundere was oblivious about such things, but he wasn’t completely blind. It was barely a moment later when the text notification popped on his screen. Surprising Takao, after all Midorima didn’t message quickly, ever; there were bigger and more important things to do; like practice or studying. The message was simple ‘Of course he is.’ Takao was about to laugh when he went to hit reply he noticed something at the bottom of the screen and scrolled a continuation ‘Are you okay?’ </p>
<p>Gripping his phone a bit harder his heart clenched and he grinned ‘What? Shin-chan are you worried about me? Or do you miss me that much? It’s su~uper cold down in the hallway you know? I’m standing next to the coffee vending machine for some warmth! But I’m not the one behind the closed doors you know? Don’t worry Shin-chan your shadow princess will return to the castle soon!’ Takao followed up with a selfie of him next to the coffee machine, making a finger heart pretending to blow a kiss. Again barely a minute passed while he was marking the ‘I’ll be waiting’ or ‘Keep me posted’s marked from the core members Midorima sent a message saying ‘. . . Idiot . . . Stay warm. . . And don’t pretend to be so strong. You’ve done everything you could do, so don’t make that kind of expression. . . Bakao.’ Takao felt his heart drop and he replied simply ‘Yeah.’ That ended their texts. Takao switched his phone back onto airplane mode, bought a coffee and went to sit on the bench closest to the door. Perched so he could jump up when it opened, he waited silently.</p>
<p>Takao had no idea that on the other side of the city Midorima was meeting up with Miyaji to figure out how to handle Takao, because he was worried. Or that Kasamatsu was scolding Kise more than normal because he started whimpering and tried to run out of their hotel. Away from the hospital Atsushi looked at Himuro and was harassing him for information, which usually took too much effort. Momoi couldn’t focus on analytics and Aomine couldn’t sleep. Akashi redid the room assignments so Mibuchi and Mayuzumi were by his side, since they would tell him nothing. While he brooded, they brooded; and none of them had any idea why it just seemed the snow was too much for their hearts.</p>
<p>Inside the operation room, Dr. Johnson was explaining the procedure again while Kuroko breathed in the anesthesia. “While you’re sleeping this machine will keep a steady flow of gas to help you rest comfortably. At first you’ll begin to feel woozy and then your body will feel heavier, sounds will blur and finally you’ll fall back into a slumber. Once that happens we will begin. As I told you before this will be a more invasive vitrectomy, which means we will make a small incision into the white wall of your eye. After this I’ll use a small suction tube to remove the built up fluid and blood that is causing the separation, it’s a much smaller version than what is used by dental hygienists. Once we’ve completed this step we will use the custom lasso tool we’ve brought with us to carefully probe behind the eye and coax the retina into position before allowing it to create a freeze bind which will hold it in place while your body naturally further solidifies the connection. Once we’re certain this connection has been made we will inspect the eye before continuing and mirroring the procedure on your opposite eye. After doing so we will put you on a drip to ensure your body both wakes and heals properly, just feeding extra nutrients into your system.” </p>
<p>Contrary to Dr. Johnson’s belief the young shadow didn’t fall asleep listening to his words and groggily answered muffled through the mask “I’ll be in your care.” The staff was surprised and startled, one of the nurse staff checked the level of gas and Kuroko’s medical file before increasing the released dosage slightly. The fact that he was still conscious was due to his will power, however they wanted to ensure no accidents could be caused, after all moving during this would have the chance of causing irreparable damage to this student’s eyes.</p>
<p>Ten minutes. Twenty. Finally inside the room Kuroko fell asleep.  After another ten minutes the operation began. </p>
<p>Outside the operation room, Takao still sat perched, he moved very few times. Going to the restroom, getting a coffee and checking the weather once more before heading back to his spot. An hour, then two, then two and a half. At that point Takao was a bit uneasy, recalling the words the doctor had spoken. The procedure will take about two hours. Then reassured himself that the anesthesia takes time to be effective and Kuroko probably listened to the full explanation again. Despite that, he didn’t realize he’d bitten into his lip again causing it to once again bleed, nor did he care. </p>
<p>The third hour arrived, time was ticking by. Phone battery dropping from 100 to 55, it was an older android, even on airplane mode… Checking the display for the time ever few minutes drained the battery, sometimes multiple times in a minute was killing it off quickly. Especially now that three hours had passed the phone display dimmed but never blackened. Heart in his throat Takao waited. Another ten minutes had passed. Takao nearly stood up when the light went off, but froze.</p>
<p>The entire hospital was engulfed in blackness. At first it didn’t process. "KUROKO!" The hawk jumped to his feet in the dark hall and stares at the dimmed sign in the blackness, his heart sinking.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry for the shorter than normal update and the long wait! I'll have another chapter, hopefully soon!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The Fear Filled Night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~*~*~ General P.o.V.~*~*~</p><p>Takao was rooted to the spot, the light flickered back on after ten minutes. Every beat of his heart caused him pain, as if it were a lead ball rather than a heart. His body tensed up to the point even drawing breath hurt, the red light flashed back on then turned off. Bawling his hands, his phone was creaking in his hand, while the other had turned a coffee cup into trash, his nails biting into his palm around the crumpled cup. The door stayed unforgivingly closed, Takao did not move, he strained his ears, waiting for any sound.</p><p>Inside they were cleaning up and inspecting for any issues from the power outage. The procedure had finished mere seconds before the storm knocked out the power, they were preparing to remove the anesthesia mask as the power cut out. With so many dangerous tools around, no one could move in the dark. So it was still. When the lights came back the machine flared to life, and before they removed the mask a very strong dose of anesthesia gushed forth. Under the mask, the unconscious Kuroko coughed a few times, making the team aware of this possible issue.</p><p>Springing to work immediately, they brought over a vital reader, they had no need to monitor excessively for this operation so although it was in the room, prior to this it was unused. A well oiled machine was running, a nurse moved the gown and Kuroko’s shirt to make place for the leads. The surgeon removed the mask of anesthesia and checked the readings before terminating the machine. An assistant was setting up the machine, applying the leads while the nurse set up the blood pressure cuff and put a thermometer in his mouth.</p><p>Oe was recording the information and went to Kuroko’s free arm, drawing a vial of blood; labelling it for testing and immediately brought it out the back door handing it off to a technician for priority testing for anesthesia toxicity levels. Once the results were recorded and the tests were finished all that could be done was to wait. </p><p>So with a solemn mood they prepared Kuroko to transport back up to a room; he would have to be observed more closely than initially thought. Dr. Johnson made the preparations while the team removed the machines, leaving the leads and such for ease of access. Once the bed was ready to go they wheeled out the bed a nurse following with the chair, when they opened the door everyone froze. Takao looked rather frightening for a medical team member, his lip was bleeding, the blood was running down his chin and dripping onto his hoodie, body barely any darker than the white fabric. Whether from the cold or the fear he had barely any color to his skin, his silver eyes were just as cold; they held concern, betrayal and what seemed to be anger. As they looked at him it was slightly noticeable he was shivering, he was standing in the perfect spot to not block the hall, while waiting. If he was to be compared to anything he seemed like a royal vampire had appeared and was prepared to wreak havoc on the mortals whom angered him. Not all the lights in the hallway had come back on yet, so the shadows added deepness to his dark hair, if only not for the orange jacket he’d appear as if he truly were a mythical creature. </p><p>Oe broke the awkward silence “Takao-kun, the surgery was a success. However, due to the power outage Kuroko-kun was subjected to a large dose of anesthesia when the machine rebooted.” The nurse glanced at Oe who had been moving the bed, he smiled sadly and sighed softly “Come sit next to him for now. I’ll explain everything on the way. We’ll be moving the two of you back to that room, and stationing several nurses to monitor him.” Takao’s eyes darkened a bit more after a moment of brightening of excitement hearing things went well and then an accident. Shaking his head he walked over putting the crumpled cup in his pocket then the phone in his other, and smiled icily “It’s fine I’ll handle the chair since it was something we brought with us, rather than trouble someone else. Thank you for the trouble, Miss, and Oe-san.” The nurse flinched and nodded ascent retreating back into the room behind them like a rabbit fleeing a predator. Oe seemed to mentally note very over protective of his friend. “Then shall we be on our way Takao-kun? I’d like to get Kuroko settled in as soon as possible and flush his system with a drip as discussed before, however a bit more targeted to clear any traces of toxicity that the anesthesia could cause.”  Takao nodded simply folding the chair so the seat collapsed and it was just wheels. “Of course Oe-san” He stepped aside further to allow the bed to pass and followed beside him. </p><p>Takao might only be an average student, but he merely didn’t apply himself for things that had no purpose to his life. His steely eyes had a chill as he began processing and spoke idly as they walked. “So the anesthesia was administered in a constant dose, but because of the power surge it was a large dose… And… it could be a toxin…? What could the after affects be?” Oe once again shivered, this voice was nothing like the warm or eloquent voice from earlier in the day, if he didn’t know any better he’d think that it was snowing inside. “Right, Dr. Johnson will be meeting with you again tonight after Kuroko is settled, but for now I’ll do my best to answer the questions I can as a Registered Nurse.” Carefully he navigated the winding halls pushing the bed towards the elevator lobby “It was an inhaled general anesthetic, with his body type we had to monitor the dosage. However Kuroko-kun had a tolerance to it, so as it was we initially needed to start him at a slightly higher dose for him to sleep through the procedure. The dosage would be constantly released through the mask and inhaled, however the machine registers time passage. It releases a set amount of the drug on a timer, since roughly five minutes had passed there were two to three doses that were released at once, before we were able to remove the mask or cut the connection that had already entered Kuroko’s body.” Taking a breath he pressed the call button for the elevator “The team is currently researching exactly how much extra entered into his body, we also sent a vial of blood to our in house lab for immediate screening. We estimate that the dose was at least tripled, and although it was a short exposure we’re concerned for after effects. After all, Kuroko has had a bad head trauma which led to the surgery in the first place. Generally the worst case scenario with overdosing can be tied to the brain itself or respiratory systems. So to be safe we’ll have him on oxygen tonight as well as a heart monitor and intravenous drip.”</p><p>Listening silently Takao nodded and pressed the floor button for Oe-san after he climbed into the elevator after the bed cleared. Frowning a bit he nodded “Understood, so I’ll need to step out for phone usage?” Oe shook his head “No, that is not the case. Though I would advise against holding the phone near Kuroko-kun. If you leave the phones by the window or the second bed there will be no issues to address. We wish to have you stay with Kuroko as well. After all, someone whom knows Kuroko-kun’s situation the best would only be Takao-kun. Although we are medical professionals, we can only judge off the baseline, it is likely that you would notice faster than we would if something was wrong. Even a slight difference in his posture earlier did not escape your notice, so after our discussion we had already planned to ask this of you.” Takao’s expression contorted a bit and his eyes lightened a little and he nodded “Mm… I understand; I somewhat wish I brought more coffee up… Though I probably would have worn it earlier.” He gave a wry laugh and shook his head. Oe chuckled “We are also going to have a nurse come up to tend to your lip Takao-kun, you ripped the stitches from earlier in your concern.”</p><p>Takao’s sigh was drowned by the sound of the elevator chime and door, so Oe frowned and followed him out “You must be thinking that it doesn’t matter, however no medic would ignore a patient. Takao-kun we will allow neither you nor Kuroko-kun to suffer. Please, even if only a little, continue to trust in us.” Takao watched Oe’s eyes for a moment as he pushed the bed forward and finally nodded “I understand.” He neither ascented nor disputed. When they wheeled into the room Takao sighed softly “I’ll shift him over to the other bed Oe-san, do you want to get his nurse to set up the equipment?” Oe hesitated before nodding and locking the bed in place before going.</p><p>~*~*~ P.o.V. Takao (Third) ~*~*~</p><p>You could only sigh watching Oe leave, you parked the wheelchair by the window before crossing back to the transported bed. Kuroko was sleeping peacefully, he seemed to be crying, which was normal after a surgery. Gently you wiped the tears from his cheek before sliding your arms under him, one leg at his upper back pulling his head gently against you so it wouldn’t flop and cause excess movement, the other under his legs. Taking a breath you scooped up his inanimate body and took the dead weight, even if he felt heavier in this deep slumber it was nothing for you. Once his weight was supported in your arms, you crossed to the original bed. With soundless steps and a feather touch you set him back onto the bed, adjusting the pillow before resting his head back gently. You put up the far side safety bar first, the one on the side of the bed you’d be sleeping under, or at the very least sitting under. It was highly likely you would only nap at the most. With an equally delicate touch you brushed his hair away from his forehead and to the side away from the eyes. Then you noticed Oe return with the nurse, the nurse looked remorseful and Oe apologetic as he watched the scene from the door, you weren’t quite sure and didn’t quite care when they appeared.</p><p>Stepping back you moved to the window so the nurse could do her thing, you nodded to Oe “Thank you Oe-san. I do hope you have a good evening.” Oe could only unlock the transit bed and nod “I do hope you get some rest Takao-kun.” He seemed to have more to say, but he swallowed back his words and left to return the bed. You took your phone out removing it from airplane mode. Ignoring the massive amount of unread messages you opened a new mass message to all those waiting. You typed a simple message ‘Surgery completed. Kuroko is sleeping. Will update on vision status in the morning.’ Glancing up you saw the nurse inserting the needle for the IV, as she worked you opened a different message to the core group. Ignoring the notifications of people liking your message or replying ‘I want to make you aware. The surgery was successful, or so they said. As of now Kuroko is sleeping. I will confirm his vision when he wakes. However, that likely will not be until morning at earliest. The hospital lost power while he was still on the anesthesia, he is being treated under the possibility of having anesthesia toxicity, I’ll be meeting with the head nurse shortly to learn of all the possible complications. I will send another update as soon as I’m fully informed.’ </p><p>You sent it, unaware the six who received the message froze and excused themselves from their dinner to reply without prying eyes watching them. Each hotel had multiple teams. Shuutoku with Seirin, Miyaji and Kiyoshi looked at each other with a look of concern on their faces while they typed their respective messages. Imayoshi was talking with Susa when the message came in, he paused and patted Susa’s shoulder “Sorry Susa-ya I’ll be right back, keep a watch on the children~” He walked across the cafeteria and stopped by Kasamatsu’s table “Shall we talk Kasamatsu-san?” When the two stepped out they went a bit further away from the cafeteria than would be expected as their aces were a bit more prone to listening in, they discussed the issue while Kasamatsu researched, Imayoshi replied. In the final hotel Mayuzumi was reading a light novel on his phone as he finished his dinner, without changing his expression he read the message and replied. Then with a sigh he glanced over to Reo who had also finished “Right…. Mibuchi, I finished unpacking before we came down. How exactly did you pack things in my luggage?” Reo’s eyes changed for a moment before he laughed “Ah? You caught me Mayu? I couldn’t fit my skincare products in my suitcase without them being crushed~ Since you always pack so light isn’t it fine?” Sighing you shook your head “I suppose if we were to share a room it would be less of a hassle?” Kotarou blinked and pouted “Hey hey hey! You’re not going to say I need to switch rooms are you?” Akashi watched and shook his head “Kotaro, the room assignments are already fixed. Reo why don’t you go retrieve your things from Mayuzumi’s room then.” Mayuzumi sighed standing up “I’ll be heading back then.” Reo pouted “Don’t be angry Sei-chan~ I’ll be going~” As they walked there was an eerie silence until they were out of eye sight Mayuzumi began explaining the message he just received and the things he knew about the issue. Don’t take light novel readers for fools, he knew a fair bit about medical issues as quite a few of the isekai titles he read recently dealt with medical complications that lead to reincarnation. Mibuchi’s face was getting paler and paler as they approached the elevator, in the same hotel Himuro gracefully ducked away from the team under the ruse of using the restroom, it was roughly 9:30 pm in Tokyo, which meant it was around 6:30 in LA, which was perfect for doctors. He placed a call to a sports doctor he worked with and began looking into his own information; the more he knew the easier it would be to explain if Atsushi decided to press for information.</p><p>Back at the hotel you retreated to the door and placed a call to Kuroko’s grandmother while the nurse moved on to hooking up the vital monitors and the oxygen tank. A sleepy voice answered the phone. With a smile you answered “Kuroko-baa-sama.” Just two words and she was alert “Takao-kun?” You felt a weight crushing your heart and a pained smile formed on your face “It’s me, the operation is finished we just got back to the room. Kuroko is sleeping right now, everything went well.” She noticed your pause and asked “Did something happen?” With a slight sigh he nodded “Yes, while they were wrapping up and preparing to remove the anesthesia…. The power at the hospital went out, because of the dangers of moving in the dark they were unable to remove the mask before the power returned. So he got extra anesthesia blown into him when the power returned. Currently he is sleeping very soundly, it is unknown what the side-effects of the extra strong dose is going to cause. He’s being put on vital monitors, oxygen and a drip as a precaution he’ll also be watched and monitored all night. It’s expected that nothing major will happen where it was only a moment, but they want us to be prepared to know something could happen. Even though we don’t know what.” The grandmother’s voice was fretful “Oh no, what should I do Takao-kun? Do you need me to head to the city when the blizzard stops?” Takao smiled and shook his head “No, no. Kuroko-baa-sama don’t panic. I’m going to stay by Kuroko’s side still. It shouldn’t be much! I’ll call you or have him call you as soon as he wakes up! So just rest well and stay healthy so that way when Kuroko is better he won’t worry! Okay?” She sighed and smiled “I’m glad Tetsuya has a friend like you Takao-kun, please come visit me with Tetsuya when this is all over. Okay? I’ll treat you to some amazing home made foods when you do!” You felt the weight lift away a little “It’s a promise! For now get some rest! Oyasumi nasai Kuroko-baa-sama!” She laughed softly and conceded “Alright, oyasumi Takao-kun. Sweet dreams. Don’t put your health at risk for my grandson either okay?” You hesitated and nodded “Okay.” As you ended the call you lightly touched your lip feeling the wetness on your fingertips you could only sigh and mumble “Well… As long as I can help it I guess? I just feel helpless.”</p><p>You responded to the core crew’s messages, they were mostly of one mind; they wouldn’t tell the rainbow and they would be waiting for your next messages. It didn’t matter what time it would be, they just wanted information. The nurse heard the amount of pings and noises that sounded like a symphony gone wrong coming from your phone, and when she finished she asked “Family?” You chuckled and shook your head “Nn, not really? Although they’re like his family. Athletes are very close to one another. Each message is from a different team mate a different friend who is waiting very impatiently to talk to our little shadow, Kuroko.” Pressing the corner of the phone to your lips you smiled “Each team has at least 10 member, coach and manager. Out of them six teams and at least 2 per team are messaging curious about what is happening.” The nurse trembled meeting your gaze. Putting your phone away you tossed the crumpled cup into the trash barrel in the corner without breaking eye contact </p><p>The poor nurse was moderately intimidated“My name is Ono Kiri. I’ll be the nurse in charge of monitoring Kuroko-kun tonight. Do you mind taking a seat here and letting me treat your lip before the doctor comes to talk with you Takao-kun?” As she spoke she had gestured to the other patient bed in the room. You felt the annoyance shading your features, you flipped the ‘main light’ of the room off so the portion of lights over Kuroko’s bed dimmed, after all leaving such bright fluorescent on over someone who is sleeping is normally bad for the eyes; let alone for someone who just had an eye operation. After doing so you walked over to one of the visitor seats in the room, half conceding to her, but making your stance clear. You would wholly cooperate in matters that would affect Kuroko in any way, however you would not be underestimated because of your age. Your voice was just as low as it had been, having never risen due to not wanting to disturb Kuroko, even if he was in a drug induced sleep; Even earlier Oe had noticed that and kept a moderate tone, yet this nurse seemed to only see Takao, as if Kuroko was an afterthought, and the icy wind in the room was targeting her. “It seems more prudent to sit in a visitor seat Ono-san, after all, I am not the patient. I was instructed to keep an eye on Kuroko because I’m the most familiar person present, even now you’re chattering away in such a cheery high pitched voice. Normally when a patient is sleeping are you that noisy? It’s truly disappointing the best hospital in the region has such standards.” </p><p>Before Ono could respond you continued your words covering the footfalls you heard approaching in the hallway “I appreciate the concern, and I do understand the hospital’s stance on no patient left untreated. However you should truly have at least some form of priority, Kuroko was the one whom you needed to settle in first. Sloppily inserting the drip on the third attempt because you were glancing at someone else, misapplying the leads and even forgetting to turn on the vital machine before offering to treat someone else. I don’t know if you’re just careless or perhaps clueless? I do hope you aren’t the lead nurse of this floor, or I truly won’t be getting any rest. I assured Oe-san that I would trust the team working with Kuroko. The same does not apply to someone who seems to be distracted by a high school student.” When you finished talking, you turned curious to see who was in the doorway. Dr. Johnson already, his face was rather flushed. It was evident that he had come up as soon as he was able without taking a proper break, unlike earlier where he had a noble calm aura to him, even he seemed agitated. Without pausing he crossed over to the vacant bed and hit the call button before turning to Takao “I see the notes on the file from earlier were not understated. On behalf of my team I apologize for the complications Takao-kun.” The nurse was like a fish out of water, opening and closing her mouth seemingly lost. </p><p>Within a minute another nurse rushed into the room worried seeing the call light from the empty bed she rushed over. This nurse was older, even though she surveyed the situation as she rushed in, her first priority was the patient. Immediately she saw the flabbergasted nurse but paid her no mind at first. Walking over she inspected Kuroko’s bed, she first checked and adjusted the drip line so it started. Then confirmed the leads, fixing three of the five connections and adjusted the oxygen tube before starting the machine. A rhythmic hum of air and pulsing beeps filled the air before the nurse turned and addressed Dr. Johnson her voice both firm, yet hushed “My apologies doctor, you seem to be the one who pressed the summons, may I ask what happened?” Doctor Johnson was silent though nodded ascent to recognize he did greet the nurse, before turning his gaze to you. You blinked seeing him lift an eyebrow and saw the nurse confusedly follow his gaze. With a slight chuckle you smiled “It is exactly as you see.” Glancing at the clock on the wall “It has been roughly twenty minutes since we arrived to this room. Sixteen since Ono-san appeared. Three since Doctor Johnson made it up to this floor after concluding the post operation procedures without rest. And one since you were summoned and addressed the issue.” You had a smile in your voice as you said “Thank you for not neglecting my friend, being distracted and causing him injury from carelessness or neglecting to check the lights and equipment~” Ono flared and yelped stepping forward “That’s not fair!” </p><p>A glare from the new nurse silenced her and she recoiled seeing your eyes turn to her more frigid than before. The nurse sighed massaging a spot on her temple and nodded “I see. I understand, I apologize for this rookie’s negligence. This cannot be overlooked, I will assign a new nurse to this room. I am the head nurse of this floor, you may call me Mishiya. You must be Kuroko-kun’s guardian. We were informed that you also had a minor injury that needed to be treated, it appears that this endeavour has actually caused it to worsen. If you’ll give me a moment I’ll return with the correct kit and the new nurse for this room.” She bowed her head and turning your gaze and you smiled “Thank you Mishiya-fucho.”</p><p>Ono dejectedly followed the head nurse out, not hiding her spiteful eyes, you ignored her and looked at the doctor “Are you okay sensei? You seem exhausted…” Blinking the doctor offered a troubled smile “Truly Takao-kun if you enter politics I have a feeling few would be your match.” With that strange comment he nodded “Thank you for your concern, however I will only rest once I’ve fulfilled my duties. What happened in the operating room was a freak accident, however it is still to the end an accident. Anesthesia Toxicity can be quite horrifying, such an incident should never happen.” As he spoke he pulled a chair quietly across from him, bringing over one of the patient trays he lowered it and set the files and laptop in his hands down, turning the screen for you to see as he spoke.</p><p>“I’m sure this seems redundant, but allow me to start from the basics of why we are so concerned over this. General Anesthesia is used before certain procedures to prevent the patient from feeling pain which could cause the body to move and interrupt or ruin the procedure. General Anesthesia works by interrupting nerve signals in the brain and body, it serves to prevent the brain from processing pain and stops you from remembering what happened during the surgery. A human body even in slumber can recall what it feels you see, that’s why this is critical, after all ghost pains can be more horrifying than anything else. When utilizing anesthesias a specially trained doctor, an anesthesiologist is present to handle the before, during and after. Only they will adjust and administer the IV or the gas, ensuring that everything is safe. Currently Doctor Misaki is researching the printout from the machine that administered Kuroko-kun’s anesthesia and then he will consult the lab results and come to greet you personally. Doctor Misaki will likely end up with you both for the majority of the evening, monitoring his breathing, temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen level and fluid levels. As needed throughout the night he will make any adjustment to ensure a full recovery.” </p><p>As he was speaking he pulled up a new image on the screen and paused for a moment, nodding as the new nurse came in behind head nurse Mishiya, petite, polite and young she bowed “Good evening, I am a new nurse here; I will be in charge of Kuroko-kun and you tonight Takao-kun. My name is Kirisaki Rika. Do you mind if I treat your lip while the doctor briefs you? I apologize for interrupting sensei” She bowed again towards him and returned her gaze to you, with a sigh you nodded “I’ll be in your care Kirisaki-san” With your approval the head nurse headed back to her rounds, and the nurse began cleaning your wound as you turned your eyes back to Dr. Johnson keeping still. Seeing your expression the doctor chuckled “Very well. Now that I’ve explained the basics, you should understand this. General anesthesia influences the brain and the respiratory systems. Now what’s concerning is what the drug does. It causes your body to forget. You will forget your pain, however it can cause further issues in cases of overdose. It can trick a body into a coma, it can cause seizures, cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, it can trick the body into failing to produce certain cells or even lead to death in severe cases. None of which will happen from such a short exposure, however all are in fact possibilities on a smaller scale. Anesthesia Toxicity is rare in the modern medical science world as it’s always carefully monitored and after care is speedy. We however always have treatments in mind, you see after anesthesia is applied there are signs and things the anesthesiologist watches. During the first stage the induction to the drug, the patient will start feeling calm and groggy, however they will be able to speak. The anesthesiologist will speak and monitor how the conversation and the application is going, occasionally they will apply pressure to a hand or wrist to test the pain or feeling receptors. In Kuroko-kun’s case his body and mind were still active and the dose had to be increased. Which lead to him finally being able to fall into a sleep. However stage two is the dangerous stage. There are always different reactions, uncontrolled movements, fast heartbeats and irregular breathing, occasionally vomiting. These signs are actually what doctor Misaki is using to figure out aftercare and focus her priority on. You see when Kuroko entered the delirium state, he didn’t breath to violently, nor did he move. His body seemed to want to hide itself. Oe who was in the room with us mentioned something you had brought up in conversation when Misaki-sensei expressed concern. He mentioned that you said something along the lines of Kuroko is akin to a magician in his sport, that he was called the phantom sixth man of the team and his presence is trained to make it easy for him to disappear, which is why you transported him in a wheelchair.” Your eyes widened startled that Oe recalled that and made a slight move of ascent while Kirisaki-san was preparing the suture. </p><p>Seeing your surprise Dr. Johnson chuckled lightly and smiled kindly “Our staff naturally recalls things involving our patients, even the smallest thing can be a hint to us. For instance Kirisaki-san here has realized that the mistreatment of Kuroko-kun is what caused you to reopen your injury more than once during the time here, so she prepared a small modified finger protector to put over your lip so you can’t aggravate the cut again.” Being caught the nurse in question turned rather pink, but continued working diligently. The other side of your mouth twitched as you tried to not smile. Doctor Johnson continued “Yes so knowing that Kuroko-kun’s natural reaction was to try to disappear or make himself smaller is what Doctor Misaki is focusing on. The fact that his heart rate and breathing were indeed unstable, but his body was showing reactions you would normally find in abuse victims, it was quite concerning. Also the reactions incited concern for a different reason. You’re aware that we ensured that Kuroko ate properly. However normally before anesthesia you would be advised not to consume anything for at least eight hours before as when the body relaxes it is possible for food from the stomach to enter the lungs due to complications. We were quite worried when his body seized up, and again after the dosage as he started coughing. Kirisaki will be coming in later with a portable ultrasound machine again to inspect his lungs. If Kuroko-kun does not wake within twelve hours we will begin subjecting him to many of the same tests he had this morning. From a MRI to a CT and one he didn’t have a PET. He will receive a series of drips tonight and many monitors. I know we’ve asked you to watch him, but we ask that you ensure that you get some rest as well. Do you have any questions?”</p><p>Finally done with his monologue you waited. Kirisaki was nearly done, she covered your lip with the little plastic sheet and bowed, going over to record Kuroko’s data and dispose of her gloves and the needle and gauzes. </p><p>You closed your eyes processing what you heard and asked “So… Kuroko is likely going to need an extended stay, because seizures and brain activity needs to be monitored for a few days to be ruled out… Correct?” Doctor Johnson blinked “Although we have not had a meeting on that subject yet, that speculation should be accurate. To ensure there’s no seizures or body failure, we will likely ask you to remain for at least three days.” You swallowed and nodded, slowly opening your eyes you took a breath “Are there other common side effects to be aware of?” Doctor Johnson nodded, pulling up a different screen. “Normally after anesthesia it is possible for patients to experience nausea, vomiting, sore throat, hoarse voice, sleepiness, shivering, itching,  muscle aches or confusion, mild amnesia; Though the last two are most common in elderly patients.” Your breath caught in your chest, and an ache caught. Your mind raced, if Kuroko’s natural instinct was to hide… Would his brain not try to take the chance to selectively forget things that cause him agony? You coughed lightly smiling, the worry was easy to see in your eyes but hard to see “I understand. I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for the normal and the abnormal as well~ I don’t think there’s anything else.” </p><p>Doctor Johnson nodded and followed Nurse Kirisaki out, another nurse brought in some extra blankets and a pillow for you leaving them on the extra bed in the room before heading out. You sat in a daze for a moment; watching the bouncing lines that indicated his heart beat. After a while you sent another text to the core crew. ‘We will likely be staying over for a few days to monitor the after effects of the overdose. It could affect his brain or his breathing so they want to be careful. He is on all sorts of monitors and is going to be personally monitored by a doctor and a nurse alternating throughout the night. Due to the heart monitor my replies may be sporadic.’ You felt numb as you typed the words, and after a bit of thought you pulled the pillow from the bed, crossing your legs in the chair around it hugging it to your chest, you called Mayuzumi rather than text him. A video call.</p><p>You were surprised that the one who answered was Mibuchi. He smiled “Ah just a moment Kazu-chan~ Chi-chan left his phone over here.” You could tell he was moving and he went through a few doors and knocked on a door, while talking to you “Kazu-chan… Are you alright? You don’t look so well; ah is that bruise from that Aomine? I heard about it from Chi-chan it looks really painful, what’s that on your lip?” Somehow the naturally flirting was diffused through the phone, you hugged the pillow a bit tighter and chuckled. “Thanks for that~ I know I look like I’ve barely slept for days, gotten that a lot today… Ah I apparently caused the cut Ao-chan caused too much so they made a covering so I won’t accidentally do it again.” In the background you heard the door open and Kotaro’s voice asked “Reo? Why do you have Mayu-mayu’s phone? Who are you talking to?” You could tell Kotaro reached for the phone and Reo lifted it away “Tsk, tsk. Kota it’s not nice to grab you know? Where’s Chi-chan? It’s an important call.” Kotoaro blinked and pointed, Reo sighed and nodded “I’m coming in, excuse me~” He slipped past Kotaro and knocked on another door “Chi-chan your ringtone gave me a heart attack you know? I never expected to hear something like that play on your phone.” There was a muffled answer from inside. Reo chuckled “It’s a video call though; so I’m coming in so I can keep the camera off of you~ I mean unless you’re into that?” You could hear a door open and Reo walked into a new room closing the door behind him, you blushed a bit realizing Mayuzumi seemed to be in the shower. You asked “Er… Should I just call back later…?” Your voice which had already been quiet was actually quieter. Reo frowned, but before he said anything Mayuzumi said “No… You don’t sound okay. Just give me a moment… What happened?” </p><p>Reo who was watching Mayuzumi dry off glanced back down and saw you shift seemingly curl into a ball. As you watched, he seemed to cover the lens to the camera and you heard movement, you ignored it and closed your eyes “I just met with the specialist who performed the surgery, he went over everything that an overdose or even a regular dose of anesthesia can cause… Something he said made me think talking to you might help me fend off some unnerving thoughts. You had no idea that Mayuzumi could see you at the moment and could tell something was really big, frowning he sighed “What is it that could have you look like this? And why me specifically? We’re not particularly close.”</p><p>A quiet self-deprecating laugh escaped you “Mm… That’s true, we’re not close. Yet just like me and Kuroko, me and you have an unnatural understanding of each other. This has to do with the story of the shadows. And what caused concern was that same thing. So it can only be you.” Opening your eyes you saw an intense concerned glare watching you. You turned your eyes away from the camera and was silent for a bit. Reo noticed “Wait, that beeping? Is he on a heart monitor?” Mayuzumi’s eyes widened “Okay really, talk.” You summarized why he was on the machines, the before and afters and then finally “When I heard one of the side effects I realized there could be a bit of trouble.”</p><p>Mayuzumi frowned, his hair was dripping onto his new shirt as he and Reo exited the bathroom and went into his room off the suite closing the door behind them. Reo plopped a towel on his head and you watched as he dried it, while Mayuzumi was focused only on you “Yes… That could become a problem… I think any of the three of us would risk the same thing where our bodies naturally wanted to reduce stress… Kuroko especially, he’s not weak, but… He’s easy to break'' You felt your heart in knots as you glanced over at the bed “I… agree… I really hope I’m wrong though. I won’t really know what to do. . . If that really is the case.” Mayuzumi ran a hand through his hair and frowned, swatting Mibuchi away “Right or wrong, you can’t show this face to him you know. Even if it happens, you have to be that annoyingly cheerful little bird you always are. Your heart might bleed, but you have to endure. Or you could cause more damage.” You clutched the pillow tighter and nodded “I got it… I’ll do my best, so for now don’t let Sei-chan come over; if I’m right or if I’m wrong he’ll be too overpowering for when the princess wakes up.” Both Reo and Mayuzumi laughed “We got it, it won’t be easy but Kazu-chan we’ll make sure it happens~” Reo chirped in and appeared over Mayuzumi’s shoulder “Once this is over and you can leave Kuroko’s side I’m taking you on a date~ No exceptions.” You felt what little color you’d regained leave your face, and you were horrified, Mayuzumi laughed and Reo said “Look forward to it~” and you could hear him leaving the room. You sighed and mumbled “That’s horrifying…” Mayuzumi nodded “Good luck with him.” Then his eyes softened and he watched you “Are you going to get through tonight?” With a sigh you could only nod and smile “I’m going to be thinking too much all night, but I’ll manage. Thanks for listening…” Mayuzumi nodded “Mm, I see why it had to be me. Try to get some sleep Takao, you need it.”</p><p>It was by no means an easy night. From ten to six perhaps there was an hour of sleep. Like a cat you woke to the slightest change in sound, sitting curled up in a chair hugging the pillow and a blanket wrapped around you. Blearily you would press the call button if the IV emptied before the nurse came, you would answer Dr Misaki’s questions in your own state of delirium, watching waiting for Kuroko to wake. The storm went from bad to worse and slowly the sky went from dark black to light gray. Still covered with clouds, much like your heart.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>